April 1st
by theonewhosawitall
Summary: Nino may be the April fools king, but Alya is a pranking God, and she's out to get his crown. Marinette and Adrien are not ones to shy away from a little friendly competition, especially from their best friends. While the kwamis place their bets, the tournament begins on Friday the 29th of March, and they are in for a VERY dangerous weekend.
1. Chapter 1

Nino wandered in, tired and not paying full attention. He didn't notice Alya nudging Marinette eagerly. Marinette covered her mouth with her hands urgently, to hold back the giggles. He yawned heavily, and placed his bag on the floor. Marinette covered her mouth again, trying hard not to laugh. Neither of them noticed Adrien seeking up until he was right behind Nino. Adrien sneaked his hand up Nino's shirt, and pressed a cold can of coke against the small of his back, grinning. Nino screeched like a banshee at the sudden cold spot, and leapt forward. Adrien threw his head back, howling with laughter.

"ADRIEN!" Nino cried, half furiously, half biting back laughter.

"Sorry, I know what you're going to be like on Monday, so I thought I'd get you early!" Adrien beamed.

His smile was different when he was with Nino to when he was on posters. When he was modelling, he kept his smile small, and warm, but ultimately false. Even in family portraits he held the small, sweet smile, he was trained to use. No teeth, but mouth a little open. But here, with them, Adrien smiled with his whole face. He beamed with all his teeth, his eyes shone with true happiness, and he often laughed too. His smile with them was sunshine. Warm enough to melt Marinette from this distance.

"It's going to be dangerous to be you on Monday. I'll get you back so good!" Nino threatened, his eyes sparkling.

"Ah c'mon Nino! At least you're awake now," Alya grinned.

Nino glanced at her, suspiciously through his glasses. His amber eyes searched for any signs of expectation. That she was in on this. If she wasn't, he had another prank to expect. April 1st had gotten a lot harder to win since she became a competitor.

"Everyone take your seats. Adrien, I expect that can to remain in your bag until lunch is that understood?" The teacher warned.

Adrien slipped the coke into his bag again. "Sorry, it was just a bit of fun."

"That's quite enough fun, this is a classroom not a playground," the teacher tutted.

"This is school, there can be no joy allowed!" Nino muttered to Adrien.

Adrien chuckled, which made him close his eyes, and crinkle them at the corners. Marinette's heart twanged as he did. He was gorgeous, and he knew it, but he didn't brag, which made him even more perfect.

"Careful girl, you're drooling again," Alya grinned.

Marinette covered her mouth with her hand, embarrassed, she bowed her eyes, already turning pink. Alya laughed. She loved that girl dearly, but she was pathetic sometimes. Then something else drew her attention. Alya gasped. Her eyes sparkled, expectantly. Urgently she gripped Marinette's arm urgently, grinning as Nino headed to his chair. Marinette grinned expectantly. Nino took his seat calmly, and nothing happened. Anti-climactic. Marinette frowned. She and Alya shared a disappointed, confused look. Then Adrien took his seat.  
He yelled in alarm as the bench upturned beneath him, throwing him to the ground, and dragging Nino down with him. Both, and their bags, ended up in a heap on the floor. Alya and Marinette gasped in alarm. Then Alya snorted. Marinette couldn't help but break into laughter as Alya broke down too. The boys sat up on the ground, and glared at them, grinning.

"Just you wait until Monday," Adrien warned.

"Sorry Adrien we only meant to get Nino!" Alya said.

"We must have taken out the wrong screw. Are you ok?" Marinette explained.

"Fine. Bruised, but fine," Adrien stood up and added, softer, so only Marinette could hear, "Maybe you should kiss it better my lady."

Marinette tilted her head, unable to hide her smirk, but her eyes never left his.

"Sit down kitty."

Plagg was less forgiving about being thrown to the floor so coldly, but he accepted it when he thought back to the weekly patrol night.  
Now that Paris had FIVE heroes looking out for it, Saturday night patrol had become something of a ritual. Monday Ladybug took patrol, Tuesday Chat, Wednesday Rena Rouge, Thursday Queen Bee and Friday Carapace. On Saturday, all of them searched their own allocated areas, before meeting on a high-rise, flat rooftop, to catch up on details of the week, swap gossip and jokes, and draw straws for who took the Sunday patrol. Nino had to hold the straws because none of the others fully trusted any of the others not to keep a long straw for themselves. Sort of. Ladybug could be trusted, but not Marinette according to Chole, Chole couldn't be trusted even if Queen Bee was according to Alya, Adrien might be trusted but Chat Noir could NOT by anyone, and neither Alya or Rena could be fully trusted. That left Nino.  
LAST week they had been discussing pranks. Apparently, Nino was the April Fools king. ("Um, there's only one royal around here! Moi!" Chole interpreted) Which brought up some competitive arguments from the others. Alya especially. ("You can be a fool king if you want, but I am a pranking GOD!") Plagg raised an eyebrow at this. Plagg saw a good money-making opportunity when he saw it. Not that Plagg had any use for money. He couldn't go into a shop and buy anything, so even if he had it, he couldn't use it. But a competition like this - between superheroes no less - was something he couldn't pass up. Kwamis are, by nature, competitive. They can't help it. Any friendly game quickly gets competitive and can end up in tears. (Poor Duusu one ended up in tears, and the only person who could ever console her was Nooroo, and Lord knows where he was in that century, but he certainly wasn't there to help!)

"My kitten can beat all of you hands down," He declared.

Trixx laughed, condescendingly. "Please! Don't you know foxes are the slyest of the sly?"

"Turtles may look calm, but they are fierce from hatching. Nino can beat all of you," Wayzz pointed out.

"Chole's going to sting you all," Pollen scoffed.

"Buzz off, Mari beats all of you time and time again," Tikki pointed out.

"Not Adrien! Adrien is her kryptonite!" Plagg smirked.

"And Marinette is his! He stammers just as much as she does, and you know it. A cat had his tongue for a week when he found out who Ladybug was," Trixx pointed out.

"That wasn't his finest moment," Plagg admitted.

"Are you all forgetting who is the queen around here? I'll put honey on Chole to beat all of you," Pollen declared.

"Chole wouldn't get involved. She doesn't talk to any of them outside of the battles, and you know that won't change because of some dumb contest," Trixx argued.

"I still put my bet on her," Pollen stated, firmly.

"I'll take that bet. A pot of honey if Chole wins. A block of camembert if Adrien does. What do you bet, bugaboo?" Plagg batted his eyelids at Tikki.

Tikki frowned and folded her arms. "Now I understand why Marinette doesn't like that nickname."

"Aw c'mon girl, what'd you bet?" Trixx grinned.

"I don't believe in gambling," Tikki stated.

"It's no gamble for me, I know Alya's gonna win," Trixx shrugged.

Tikki huffed. "Marinette can wipe the floor with Alya if she wants to. She took her phone and she never noticed!"

"She noticed within five minutes!" Trixx argued.

"A slow reaction time for the slyest of the sly, wouldn't you say?" Wayzz teased.

Trixx scowled at him. "She's faster than Nino! He had to have this explained to him twice, Alya figured it out herself!"

"I have patience for the boy. He's kind-hearted, smart, and loyal. He reminds me of someone," Wayzz smirked.

He was obviously talking of himself. Trixx rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"Are you betting or not?"

"I'll put in two cookies for one of your hugs Wayzz," Tikki challenged.

There was a gasp from the other kwamis and Plagg beamed, "Oooh, game changer!"

Wayzz gave the best hugs. He had a lot of practice with Duusu and Nooroo - they could be emotional - but it was rare to get one. You had to be incredibly upset, or narrowly avoid death. Wayzz worried about all of them, since they were all the family he had, but to actually be hugged by him needed more than just coming back home for a while. The last time Plagg had got one was for the same reason Tikki did. It was something deeply unpleasant, that he did not like to think about. It still gave him nightmares. He couldn't imagine what it did to Tikki. He pushed that thought from his mind. It still hurt him, and he was ashamed of it.

Wayzz slowly ran his gaze across each of the others, at their hopeful gawping. Tikki may have been the oldest kwami, but Wayzz was the wise grandfather of the group. He chuckled darkly.

"Deal."

So as you could imagine, the rapid approach of April Fool's Day had all of them in frenzy. All except Chloe though. She was content with ignoring them outside of their hero parameters. Otherwise people started questioning when they became friends and how conveniently close it was to the sudden extra heroes fighting alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. It meant that she got left out of dumb things like prank wars, but understood why Adrien had been thrown to the ground do dramatically, even if the rest of their class didn't.

"You could out shine all of them, Chloe!" Pollen insisted.

Chole threw her hair over her shoulder, and laughed, "I already do."

Across the classroom, Pollen spotted Trixx. Trixx waved at her, with a cocky smirk. Already she was winning. Well, she and Tikki. Chole wasn't even involved. Pollen didn't stand a chance. She gritted her teeth with determination.

"It's only Friday," she hissed.

"And we've still got three days to win," Trixx winked.

She was a cocky fox, that was for sure, but Pollen had a trick or two up her sleeve too. This wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

Now that the tournament had officially started, and so early, everyone was on edge. Each of them made a point to be keenly aware of where the others were at any given time. Especially Nino. Alya and Marinette were mildly suspicious of one another, but put aside their differences until Monday, in order to team up and bring down the boys together. Nino hadn't made such an offer to Adrien, and now they were both alone. They were both on high alert, which made things a little difficult for their teachers.

"Eyes to the front Miss Dupen-Chang."

"Is your conversation with Alya more important than your education, Nino?"

"Sorry Adrien, is my lesson interrupting you and Marinette?"

"Miss Dupen-Chang I won't tell you again. stop gossiping and pay attention."

"Phones are banned in class Alya, I won't warn you again."

Other class members were a timid about the prank this morning. They weren't aware that there were only a select few people involved. A general air of fear and expectation filled the class. Everyone was wondering who was next, and everyone was wondering what would happen to them. Marinette didn't want to risk hurting anyone again, and she figured that technically she'd already gotten Adrien, albeit accidentally.

"Tikki, where are my post-it-notes?" She whispered.

Tikki dove into Marinette's school bag, and searched for the post-it-notes that Alya had brought her to thank her for giving her Trixx. They were red with pale black spots so you could still write over it.

"What are you writing?" Tikki asked eagerly.

Marinette wrote neatly and clearly: _Gotta Go Fast._ It wasn't as witty as Tikki would have liked, but it was better than nothing. Marinette leaned down and tapped it, gently onto Nino's back.

"Weak," Trixx scoffed.

"Yeah girl, you gotta up your game if you wanna win," Alya agreed, softly.

"I'm not trying to win, I just want to avoid being the victim. To give as good as I get," Marinette shrugged.

When the bell went to leave the lesson, Marinette stood up, and immediately fell over, down the stairs, much to the shock of the class. While they had been paying attention to the teacher, Wayzz had slipped over to Marinette's side, and tied together her laces.

"Can't beat the classics!" Nino high fived Wayzz.

Marinette was sprawled out across the floor, pink from shame and anger, and she glared up at Nino.

"This means war."

Nino's eyes sparkled.

"Bring it on."


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette's plan to get back at Alya was simple, and beautiful. It required Alya to leave her bag on the floor for ten seconds, unwatched. Tikki then dove in, and snatched her phone. It took thirty seconds to change her ringtone, and place it back in her bag. The phone was at full volume.  
Marinette did this in lunchtime, and waited until class for the second half of her plan.

Earlier in the week, Nino had been brainstorming quietly, muttering between his thoughts, and Marinette burst into laughter at one of his ideas. She agreed to help him then and there, as long as he helped her with her half of the same prank. After tying her laces together like that and no time for revenge, Marinette wasn't keen to work with Nino now. Yet they had put a lot of planning and preparation into this prank, and they were keen to put it into action.

Sneaking into the locker room, past the boys as they fenced, was far easier than they were expecting. They were so focused on their blades that they didn't notice a pair of strangers edging across the back of the room. Nino didn't ask why Marinette knew which locker belonged to Adrien already, because the answer would make her stammer, and they didn't have that time to waste.

"How do we unlock it?" He asked.

"Tikki? Please?" Marinette asked, sweetly.

"You got it girl!" Tikki grinned.

Usually she didn't like opening locks unless it was an emergency, but this was for a prank. For a hug from Wayzz. It would be worth it. She shot through the metal door, and unlocked it from the inside.

Plagg came zooming out after Tikki. "Hey - what are you-"

"Plagg I'll give you this is you keep your mouth shut and let us prank Adrien," Marinette held out a hunk of cheese.

Plagg eyed the camembert eagerly. It was the gooey kind. His favourite! Plagg didn't want to betray Adrien, but screw it, Adrien was going to lose, Plagg might as well get some cheese out of it.

"Deal!" He snatched the cheese eagerly, his mouth already watering. "Oh, beautiful love of my life! Cheese! And camembert at that!"

Tikki rolled her eyes. Plagg was easy to please. He shot back out of the way so Marinette and Nino could set up their prank in his locker. Marinette tied the turtle shell into place with ladybug ribbon. They wanted Adrien to know who had gotten him, after all.

"Does it work?" Marinette asked, uncertainly.

Nino balanced the shell carefully, and shut the locker door. He opened it, and the shell tipped forward, throwing its content - or lack of - on him.

Nino grinned. "Awesome!"

Marinette giggled. She was already flushing with nerve, and the adrenaline buzz was making it impossible to keep both of her feet on the ground at the same time. She handed Nino the bag that had won him a funny look from Pet Smart. It was worth it. Stifling their laughter, Marinette held the shell still, and Nino filled it. Then they balanced it in place again, and shut the locker.

"Plagg, hide, but don't knock the shell, ok?" Nino warned.

"This isn't my first prank," Plagg tutted.

Nino and Marinette were buzzing as they snuck back out. The fencers were on break now, and they were trying to hurry out without being noticed, against the edge of the wall.

"Hey! Nino, Marinette!"

As soon as Adrien called them, Nino shoved Marinette's shoulder urgently, and the pair of them started dashing towards the door, and went skidding out into the street. Before they were out and free, they had burst into laughter. Adrien heard the cackling echo as his friends sped out of the building.  
He was faced with a dilemma. Either something here was boobytrapped, or he had foiled them before they could trap him.  
Unfortunately, that left him rather paranoid as the fencing continued. He couldn't keep his eye on the blade because every flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye required his full sight, to see if it was dangerous or not. Adrien was hit four times in two minutes.

"FREE YOUR HEADS FROM THE CLOUDS AND RETURN IT TO THE BLADE, MR AGRASTE!"

"Sorry."

Almost immediately he was hit again.

"URGH, STOP!"

Adrien was lectured about the importance of focus and attention in fencing. It was something he was familiar with, but he just couldn't manage right now. The lesson ended without Adrien fighting again. He kept an eye out for any signs of strings or tape that suggested tampering. He had an awful feeling that he was going to find his clothes had gone missing.  
Would they have taken his clothes?  
Of course they would! He had heard Marinette. This was war.  
Desperate to know if he still had clothes, Adrien yanked the locker door open hard and fast...

And tipped a deep shell full of cat nip right over him. Adrien screwed his eyes shut in surprise, and sneezed as some got up his nose. It covered his hair and his chest almost completely. Adrien shook his head to shake it free, and it fell down his shirt.

"Plagg-"

"Camembert."

"Of course."

loyalty was nothing if camembert was available. Adrien got changed into his normal clothes with only two coughing fits. He was certain that he still stank of cat nip, but there wasn't much he could do to change that. As he pulled his shoe on and tied it up tightly, he sat up and sniffed his shirt.

"At least it's better than camembert," he sighed.

Plagg did not agree, but given his recent betrayal, thought it was wise not to annoy Adrien further. Plagg slipped into Adrien's pocket, out of the way, and started brain storming how to get revenge on these two. Adrien pulled his bag onto his shoulder and headed out into the street.

"Here he comes!" Marinette whispered to Nino.

She was standing on his shoulders peering through a high window, to keep track of Adrien. Now Nino helped her down and rubbed his aching shoulder. Marinette was light, and Carapace had made him stronger, but it was instinct to rub where there would have been pain once. Both of them crouched out of sight, and grabbed the cat carrier they had with them. It had taken a great deal of time, effort, and bribery to lure in three strays, each of whom were itching to get out. They swiped their claws at Marinette's fingers as she unlocked the door. She gasped at how vicious they were. Not because she was surprised – stray cats are defensive so they can survive – but because she was beginning to worry about the outcome of this prank. If they attacked her, what would they do to Adrien?

"What's the hold up?!" Nino hissed.

"sorry," Marinette muttered.

The cats had to be released at some point, they might as well get some joy from it. Nino leapt back as the door swung open and blurs of fur darted out into their escape. Now there were at least three cats on the loose around a boy covered in cat nip.

When the first one started following him he didn't mind. He smiled and laughed and even bent down to stroke it. When the second one started following him, he looked surprised, and a little bewildered, but knelt down to stroke that one too. Each cat was a little suspicious, given their recent interactions with humans, but this boy smelt delightful. They were fascinated by the scent, and let him stroke them, purely out of curiosity.  
By the time the third started following him, he had put two and two together.  
Adrien huffed and started walking again. He wasn't going to allow a prank to make him late to school. Not that it wasn't difficult. These three cats wound themselves around his legs, sniffing and nipping at him and each other. The first two times they had attacked one another, Adrien had stopped to try and break it up. now he had scratches to prove it.

"just keep walking," Plagg advised, "they'll get distracted and leave you alone soon."

Just to make sure, Adrien took a slightly longer route, past the fish mongers. Every time he thought they had finally gotten distracted, they came blundering right back around his feet. Then another cat crept from an alley to follow him. This one had friends. He now had MORE cats to deal with. Adrien got back to school with a herd of cats racing around his ankles. The sight drew attention to him, and within minutes there were too many people staring and taking pictures for Adrien to try transforming into Chat Noir to get away. He had to walk all the way, only to find Nino was waiting on the steps, recording him and his minions, so it would never be forgotten. Marinette waved at him, grinning like a Cheshire… you get the picture.

"You!" Adrien cried, spitefully.

"Me!" Nino beamed back.

"You?!" Marinette challenged.

Nino hung his head a little sheepishly, "us."

Marinette gave a firm nod and beamed, "us!"

"I'm so going to get you back for this!" Adrien warned.

Marinette shrugged. "Get in line."

"I will my lady. I'll be there when you least expect it," Adrien warned.

Marinette believed him. He and Chat Noir had managed to sneak up on her time and time again. That bell didn't stop him going unnoticed. Maybe he was actually a ninja. Either way she'd have to be on high alert around him now. well, higher. She'd been on high alert around him ever since she'd found out who he actually was. it had strained their friendship slightly at first. Now they seemed to be closer than ever. Although this pranking could either make or break any chance of them ever going beyond that.  
hence the higher high alert.  
Marinette felt slightly sick. Tikki laid a hand gently on Marinette's arm. it was as if she could read Marinette's mind sometimes.

"don't worry, you two are perfect for each other, pranks won't get in the way," she promised.

By the time they settled back into class, each of them were convinced they were going to be the next to be a victim. Adrien focused his attention on his plan for getting Nino back. He didn't have a lot of feasible ideas, but he was determined to do something great.  
Suddenly the quiet of the classroom was interrupted by the loudest burst of song they had ever heard. Poor Rose leapt out of her skin at the shock of it.

 **WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!**

Alya gasped. "What the fu-"

"So that's what the fox says," Marinette muttered, unable to hide her grin.

Alya looked down at her bag, seeing her phone flashing. Marinette's picture grinned back at her, shining brightly as the song continued to fill the classroom. caller ID was such a snitch. Alya's eyes widened behind her glasses and stared at Marinette in alarm.

"You did this?!"

"You told me to up my game," Marinette pointed out.

"I did... and you did..." Alya muttered.

Her phone continued screaming, **THE SECRET OF THE FO-O-OX, ANCIENT MYSTERY! DE-E-EP IN THE WO-O-O-D WE KNOW YOURE HI-DING!**

Adrien and Nino turned to grin at Alya in surprise. She was turning red with embarrassment as she tried to subtly mute her phone. Chole rolled her eyes and tutted. Those idiots were going to be caught at any minute. The teacher looked around the room and figured out quickly where the music was coming from. She didn't have the patience to deal with this right now.

"Whoever is playing that ridiculous song, please turn it off, and remember that phones aren't allowed in the classroom. However, since there's five minutes to the end of the day, we'll say no more about it."

Alya reached into her bag and switched off the phone so it no longer sang anything. The teacher moved on without mentioning it again, and allowed her to leave without punishment. Now that the embarrassment and alarm had faded, Alya was impressed that Marinette had managed to get her phone without her noticing. Almost as if she'd done it before. Alya grinned mischievously at Marinette.

"I'm gonna get you back so bad."

"So am I," Adrien warned.

Marinette glanced over at Nino, for support, and all she got back was a raised eyebrow and a plotting look. Marinette gulped. Nino was yet to prank her too. All of them had plans, and she had done all of hers today…

This weekend was looking more and more dangerous.


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien didn't like the idea of pranks that hurt people, even by accident, but inconveniencing them was something he was very up to doing. Hidden away in his bedroom, on his own, no one was aware of what he was up to, no one was on high alert. No one had any idea what he was up to.

"Do you think your father will notice?" Plagg asked.

Adrien grinned at him. "It'll be too late by then."

"Smart. He's going to ground you," Plagg warned.

"I'm pretty much always grounded anyway," Adrien shrugged.

"True. Put anchovies on it," Plagg grinned.

Adrien laughed and nodded. Nino hated anchovies. Adrien sat behind his computer for ten minutes, hand creating pizzas that Nino wouldn't like. He put on extra onion, and extra spice, and extra mushrooms, four different types of cheese, anchovies, pineapple, and anything else he could think of that Nino didn't like. A pizza with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and pineapple topped with extra cheese so he couldn't pick anything off, was Adrien's favourite creation.  
For the cherry on top of the Sunday, he ordered each pizza from a different company, so they would come and interrupt Nino repeatedly over the course of the evening.  
Every single one of them was addressed to a different Ninja Turtle.

"What if his parents answer the door?" Plagg asked.

"they've gone away for the weekend. Their anniversary or something Nino said," Adrien shrugged.

Adrien's plan was a bit of a long shot. Nino knew that everyone was out to get him right now, that something was going to trap him into a prank. Adrien was relying on him being too suspicious to know what to do with the pizzas. That he'd prank himself with his paranoia. Adrien wasn't sure it'd work, but he'd find out tonight. the whole gang were meeting up on the roof to annoy each other.

Nino eyes widened as the pizza man handed him two pizza boxes, and wished him a present evening. At first he was suspicious, but Nino wasn't one to turn away free pizza. He laid it on the table, and glanced over at Wayzz.

"it's a prank isn't it?" Nino said.

"definitely," Wayzz nodded.

"but by who?"

"and how does it work?"

They shared a suspicious look. hesitantly, Nino reached to the top of the lid. He had a sneaking suspicious that it was going to be an intense version of the peanut joke, and something was going to jump out of him. He took a deep breath to prepare himself…

Knock-knock.

Nino straightened up like he'd received an electric shock. He stared at the shut door in shock and offence, and turned to look at Wayzz, as if Wayzz knew who it was going to be.

"go open it then!" Wayzz batted him towards the door.

Hesitantly, Nino reached to the handle. This was going to be the jump scare. It had to be. it had to be something that was going to scare him. Nino peered around the edge of the door, nervously. A bewildered pizza man stood on his doorstep.

"Michelangelo?"

Nino opened the door further, and gave him a confused look. "I'm sorry?"

"You Michelangelo?" the pizza man asked.

"I…"

Nino glanced back towards the living room. He already had pizzas. He didn't order any pizzas! What was happening?! The pizzaman grunted impatiently.

"I got a couple pizzas for Michelangelo, you him?"

"I guess I must be…"

"It's all paid for already, I just need a tip."

Nino shoved a hand deep in his pocket and drew out two euros. It wasn't much. the pizzaman clearly wasn't impressed. Nino shrugged apologetically and took the pizzas. Bewildered and suspicious, Nino slowly turned back into his house. Then he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey, you, are you Donatello?"

Wayzz gave an amused snort. "Someone's been watching Ninja Turtles."

The pizzaman was just about close enough to hear him, and gave him a puzzled look. "Sorry?"

Nino moved on as if Wayzz hadn't spoken. "yeah, I'm Donatello, is this a pizza delivery?"

"well I'd have thought you'd know, you ordered it," the pizzaman tutted.

Under his breath Nino muttered, "you'd be surprised."

Nino laid the boxes of pizza on the table in his living room. Each of them were cooling now, and he hadn't opened a single one, because he was convinced something was going to jump at him. it was a trap, it had to be. no one orders pizzas as a prank. It's too nice. It's too kind. It's too Marinette. Marinette already got Nino, twice. Once with Alya's bench prank, and again with a tag on his back. That was weak though, maybe she was getting back at him. she knew how much he hated clowns. Maybe there was a clown inside. No that was stupid, these were pizza boxes. They couldn't fit a clown in them.

Knock-knock.

A chill went down Nino's back. Maybe this was the clown. All the others were normal pizza men, there had to be something different about this one. Something more dangerous. Something… Nino felt like Aunt Josephine from a Series of Unfortunate Events. Something out there wanted in, and it could have been anything.

Knock-knock!

Nino's hand shook as he opened the door. There was a pizzaman on the doorstep. They were barely any older than Nino himself, and looked bored.

"Pizza. And this."

He thrust the box into Nino's hand, along with a note that had been written by someone being dictated to, and walked away. It was like they couldn't wait to get away. Nino understood. Work was dull, and carting around pizza was probably one of the worst jobs out there. If it were him, he'd want out too. Nino laid the pizza box on top of all the others, and curiously opened the note. Wayzz looked over his shoulder to read it too. It only had three words.

 _Enjoy your pizza._

Underneath was a black paw print hand drawn and a little lop-sided, like it had been done in a hurry. Nino felt a kick of annoyance and guilt in his stomach. He should have known Marinette wouldn't do something like this. driving someone insane was too evil for her.

"Adrien!" He huffed.

Adrien was not aware of Nino's crippling fear of clowns. Marinette knew because she remembered Rose's birthday party when they were kids. Rose had a clown who dancing around and blowing up balloons for the kids, but Nino had recently accidentally watched IT after sneaking into the living room while his child minder was watching it. Marinette spent the whole party hiding in the bouncy castle with Nino, sneaking him food, even though they weren't supposed to eat on there.  
Nino was convinced that there was a clown in one of these boxes somewhere. He had no logical reason to think that, but he had been going slightly mad with paranoia and he was CERTAIN that SOMEHOW there was a clown involved. Somehow.  
Nino picked up a random pizza and opened it. he was hit by the smell of goat's cheese immediately. Nino reeled back. He hated goats cheese.

"how many of these pizzas are going to be edible d'you think?" Nino asked.

Wayzz threw open another box to reveal a Hawaiian pizza. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"none of them."

Nino wasn't convinced. Adrien – well CHAT NOIR at least – could be mindless when it came to money spending, but he hated wasting things. If he brought something he wanted it to be used, eaten, or recreated into something more interesting. This was Adrien's prank. Something here was edible. Nino was going to find it.

Adrien got a photo through Snapchat from Nino. A grin curled the corner of his lips up. he grabbed the phone and opened the photo. It was a lingering shot of Nino holding his camera up, taking a selfie with Wayzz. Both of them had a slice of pizza from different pizzas, and they were eating them, and pulling faces at Adrien. He grinned, and screenshot the picture. Someone was going to find out he had Wayzz if he kept taking these photos. Wayzz worried about this too, but he decided that it would be ok, because snapchat destroyed images after they ran out of time. Right?


	4. Chapter 4

Chat Noir had searched his area early, and now he was stuck wandering around the city, bored and alone. Patrol was rarely interesting, but with this new system, there was at least the reward of hanging out with his friends after. He stretched his arms up, tired and stiff, and a sudden flashing caught his eye. Way down below him, there was a red dot in an alley. It flashed, like a timer counting something down. An uneasy feeling filled Chat's stomach. He had to check it out.  
Chat swung down with his staff, trying to look cool in case someone was watching. The street was dead, but Google Earth was always taking pics. When he landed in the street, he shook his head so his glistening hair bounced flirtatiously. Unfortunately, no one was around to appreciate it. He set his sights on the alley where the flashing had been. There was nothing there now. He frowned.  
Chat glanced around him, in case he had the wrong alley. His gaze fell on a car parked by the edge of the road. Underneath, there was the flashing again. Maybe it had just been a reflection... Chat stepped forward to investigate.  
Suddenly it vanished.  
He gasped.

That couldn't be good.

Chat Noir took an urgent step back. If that car blew up, there would be bits of metal everywhere. But why blow up an empty car in an empty street? There had to be something more.  
Hesitantly, Chat crept forwards. He kept low, ready to leap to the floor to avoid flying shrapnel. He stalked the car cautiously. There was no little black box or any signs of anything out of the ordinary like he expected. Still you can't be sure.  
A sudden flash of red behind him made him drop to the floor, and glance back. The little red light was reflecting off of the metal of the car. Chat swivelled around and stared back down the alley...

Everything was dark...

Even with his Night Vision nothing was out of the ordinary...

Just to be safe, he crept towards the alley to have a check. He kept his ears towards the ground, just in case. His tail was low beneath him.

Flash!

Behind him! Under the car!

He turned and crept back.

Flash!

Behind him! In the alley!

He spun around and crept forwards.

Chat Noir prowled back and forth across the road, practically on all fours, following the little glowing red light, cautiously, for about five minutes. He kept twirling and stalking, ready to attack and ready to defuse, whatever this little red light was attached to.  
Then it hit him.  
Chat Noir turned bright pink with shame. He was grateful that at least he was alone. No one else had seen him creeping back and forth after someone's laser pointer, and thankfully not a civilian. Although he could explain the dangers to a civilian. They'd believe him. He was a hero; defusing bombs was part of what he did. But one of his friends had gotten him, and gotten him good.

Chat stood up straight, and glanced around to see who. The street was still deserted. He surveyed the rooves. Empty.  
Whoever it was they were waiting on the roof with the others, probably bragging about their recent prank. He'd have to go over and land on the roof, and face the others. They would already have thought of puns to tease him with by now. He'd have to walk in and face their grins, all of them knowing his shame. Chat didn't like feeling the fool. But when he landed, the only one already there was Carapace.

"where's the clown Chat?!" Carapace demanded.

Chat Noir frowned. "excuse me?"

"where's the clown? How does the clown tie into your prank? what did you do with the clown?" Carapace demanded.

Chat tilted his head, confused. "Carapace, there was no clown. I sent pizza to wind you up. pizza for every ninja turtle."

"what about the clown Chat? Tell me about the clown."

"There is no clown."

"there better not be a clown."

Ladybug landed on the roof and was slapped by a sudden tension that felt rather peculiar. Carapace and Chat Noir never fought. They rarely disagreed on anything either. But here, facing each other down, Carapace looked both terrified and furious at the same time, and Chat Noir looked confused and flustered. Ladybug cleared her throat to steal their attention.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Adrien is going to send a clown to my house!" Carapace pointed at him accusingly.

Chat Noir threw his arms in the air, "I'm not!"

Ladybug gave him a concerned look. "Don't send a clown to his house; he's terrified of clowns."

"I'm not sending clowns, I sent him pizza!" Chat Noir insisted.

Ladybug noticed a pile of boxes in the middle of the circle they usually sat in. "that pizza?"

Chat frowned and turned his head. He spotted the pizza, and turned to look accusingly at Carapace.

"you brought the pizza here?"

"I didn't want to give the clown somewhere to hide," carapace admitted, sheepishly.

Adrien burst into laughter. Carapace was brave and protective, and he was never stingy when it came to defending people with his shield, and yet he carried that pizza all the way here, because of imaginary clowns. Nino was beginning to accept the idea that Adrien wasn't lying to him. there were no clowns. Now he was feeling awkward and embarrassed to have accused him. Ladybug wandered over and opened a box to check the pizza.

"Wow this is inedible," she laughed.

"Pick off the toppings then," Nino suggested.

"Impossible with that much cheese!" Marinette laughed.

"I didn't want him picking them off and not suffering," Chat pointed out.

"Who's suffering?" Rena Rouge asked.

They hadn't noticed her landing on the edge of the roof because they were distracted by the pizza.

"No one's suffering, that's the problem," Chat Noir complained.

"He ordered terrible pizza to drive Carapace insane and now he's upset that no one wants to eat it," Ladybug grinned.

"Is it free?" Rena asked.

Ladybug shrugged. "I guess."

"I'll eat it!" Rena declared.

She hurried to the pizza boxes and picked up the first pizza on top of the pile. It had onion and anchovies and she took a huge bite out of it in front of everyone.

"This is disgusting," Rena said, through a full mouth.

Marinette burst into laughter, and deactivated, so Tikki could help them eat the pizzas. Suddenly Ladybug, Carapace, Chat Noir, and Rena Rouge became Marinette, Nino, Adrien, Alya, Tikki, Wayzz, Plagg, and Trixx. Each of them took a slice of pizza, which was now somewhere between lukewarm and cold.

"This is truly disgusting, well done!" Trixx laughed.

As Queen Bee landed on the edge of the roof she immediately deactivated into Chole, shook her hair out, and leapt down onto the roof top.

"What are you lot doing?" She asked in disgust as she watched them cram pizza into their mouths.

"Eating, want some?" Alya clearly didn't care about eating with her mouth full.

Chole wrinkled her nose in disgust and gagged. "EW! Gross! No!"

"Chole thinks pizza is peasant food," Marinette smirked.

She remembered from when she had to steal Tikki back by pretending to be a pizza delivery girl. Chole huffed and folded her arms.

"Well it is!" She stated.

"Aw come on Chlo, you don't want one slice? Just one?" Adrien offered.

Chole stepped back, visibly repulsed. "Gross, no!"

"Smart move, this is disgusting," Alya said.

Alya then took another bite of her third slice. She was never one to turn her nose up at free food.

"I trust you all actually finished your patrols before coming here, and didn't just set up pranks instead?" Chole said.

Immediately Adrien huffed, "Of course not."

"Come on Chloe we aren't going to risk Paris's safety for the sake of pranking," Marinette insisted.

There was a long pause as Alya and Nino shared an awkward look, and continued eating so they didn't have to answer. Chloe shifted her weight onto one leg to raise an eyebrow at Alya.

"Come on foxy, tell the truth," she sneered

"I can multitask!" Alya answered defiantly, "I did everything I said I would, AND set up pranks."

Choles gaze turned to Nino who was bowing his head instead of daring to look up. "Nino?"

"I checked everything... right after I finished pranking Alya," he shrugged.

There were cries of annoyance at this.

"I vote that Nino should patrol tomorrow alone because he didn't search his area properly," Chole declared.

"That's not fair!" Nino argued.

"You've gotta be responsible Nino! You're a hero, you can't skimp off!" Chole argued.

"That's kinda harsh chole, he did search his area," Marinette said, uncertainly.

"Not properly! He has to do his job properly! What if someone gets mugged over there now?!" Chole insisted.

"I mean I hate to admit it, but Chole is right. You can't let pranking get in the way of your job," Alya said reluctantly.

"You're no better Alya, you were pranking too," Marinette pointed out.

"I guess that means Adrien gets the deciding vote," Alya shrugged.

All eyes turned to Adrien as he was taking a bite from his pizza slice. His eyes widened in surprise to see all of his friends staring at him, expectantly.

"Pssst!" Plagg hissed, "chew slowly and they'll get bored and move on."

Trixx laughed, "Have you met Alya Plagg? She didn't move on until she has an answer!"

"Hey! Don't say it like it's a bad thing!" Alya scowled.

"It's not bad for a reporter. Now you're just our friend. We don't need the fourth degree," Nino countered.

"Guys! Don't argue again! Let's just draw straws like usual, it's fairer," Adrien interrupted.

"But-"

"We're partners. All of us. There's no leader and there's no punishing someone who messes up one time. We're a team. We need all of us to keep Paris safe, that's why you guys got miraculous. But Nino, don't let it happen again. Now let's draw straws," Adrien said, firmly.

There was a pause as they begrudgingly agreed. Chole joined the circle. Without thinking, Adrien took off his jacket, and laid it on the dusty rooftop for Chole to sit on. He knew she didn't like getting dirty, and he was a gentleman, as well as Choles oldest friend. He laid his jacket down automatically for her to sit on. Nino reached into his pocket to find the straws. He held them behind his back so no one could see which was the short one. From where the kwamis were gathered on a raised platform, looking down on their children, Trixx leaned over to elbow Plagg playfully.

"I have to admit, your boy has brains, and he knows how to use them. If you can get him to stop making puns he could lead us," Trixx suggested.

"Thanks, but I think we all know Marinette is the leader here," Plagg admitted.

"Yeah, Ladybug is in charge, no matter what Chat likes to kid himself," Pollen chuckled.

"You heard Adrien, none of them are in charge. They're a team. Ladybug is just their representative," Tikki argued.

It was hard to argue with that. Ladybug might have been the leader out of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but with five heroes on the scene, all of whom knew she was Marinette, she was more of a representative than a leader. At least she was as far as the group was concerned. The media still presented them as Ladybug and friends.  
As the night wore on they forgot their arguments, and filled their stomachs with bad pizza. Chole ate the crusts that Alya offered her, but she refused to touch the rest. It was strange to be Chloe right now. She loved these lot and their Friday night hang outs, but in school she was still trying to be mean to them. It was difficult. She liked them. It was hard to be mean when you were so welcomed by the people you had to be mean to.

Chole wanted to join them in class. She just had to find a way to do it without raising suspicion from other people in their class. That was a challenge but it was ok.

Chole had a plan.


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien returned to his bedroom to find two dozen plastic mice everywhere. He perched on his window frame to admire them. There was one taped to every available surface. Whoever had done it had set it up so every colour of the rainbow was visible in one glance. And they'd put some thought into it. Mice were carefully balanced on his rock climbing rocks, or had replaced the mouse for his computer, or were taped onto the ceiling, although he suspected a kwami had done that one. Almost definitely Trixx, since they were in the shape of a fox tail. Alya had even hidden one in the roll of the toilet paper. You had to admire her dedication if nothing else.

"This is weird," Plagg declared.

"Yep," Adrien agreed.

He was grinning though. Perhaps it was the mouse that was placed so elegantly on his pillow, or maybe it was the one perched on his basketball hoop, but the level of dedication made him smile. With Plagg still on his shoulder, he carefully picked his way across the mouse minefield, over to his bed.

"Did she beat you?" Plagg asked uncertainly.

Adrien gave him a puzzled look. "Beat me?"

"Was her prank better? I can't tell."

"Does it matter?"

Plagg didn't reply. He wasn't sure if Adrien would like the fact that they were betting on him or not. On the one hand, Plagg was supporting him by claiming he was the best. On the other hand, he was making him compete against his friends, and he was getting competitive. Teams crumbled under that pressure sometimes. Adrien recognised the tone of the silence from Plagg. The kwami was keeping something secret. Something that could get him into trouble.

"Plagg?" Adrien asked, warningly.

"You won't like the answer," Plagg warned.

"What did you do?!" Adrien sighed impatiently.

You'd think a millennia year old God of destruction that had to stay secret and hidden for his own safety, would be subtler. Then again, you'd also think he wouldn't crumble because Adrien gave him one of those looks. It all came spilling out of Plagg in one breath.

"I was teasing Trixx about you being better than Alya and then Wayzz said Nino was better so I said he wasn't and then you started having this prank off, and I thought it was the perfect chance to prove you're top cat!"

"Plagg! You've been betting on me?!" Adrien cried.

"We all have! Well, they've been betting against you, but it's all Tikki's fault!" Plagg whined.

"Tikki? You're blaming the sweet and innocent bug?"

"She is not innocent! Not entirely. She's the one who bet Wayzz a hug and I haven't had one of those magic hugs since Chat -"

Plagg's voice died instantly. He looked down at the floor. He didn't like thinking about that, he HATED talking about that, and he refused to tell Adrien about that.

Adrien's voice softened. "Plagg?"

Plagg shook his head and his ears flapped. "Nothing."

Adrien frowned. Softly, he urged, "Plagg. Tell me."

"I don't want to talk about it, and it was a really long time ago, so don't worry about it either."

"Plagg-"

Plagg moved on swiftly, "The point is that Tikki bet Wayzz and now whoever wins gets one of the best hugs from one of the best huggers alive, and it might not sound like much, but-"

"I get it. I do. And I'll try to up my game so you win," Adrien promised.

Plagg gave him a soft smile. "Thanks."

Adrien reached up and scratched Plagg behind his ear affectionately. In his head he heard Marinette the first time she had scratched Chat Noir behind the ears. Her voice was a soft, amused, affectionate chuckle that still made his heart sing.

"Silly kitty."

Plagg curled on Adrien's chest as he laid on his bed. Adrien ran his finger along Plagg's back until he fell asleep purring softly. Adrien smiled at the strange little God sleeping on his chest. He was cute for a powerful being that embodied the essence of destruction. It was a little offensive that he wanted a hug from a turtle rather than Adrien himself, but Adrien cared too much about Plagg to care. If he wanted that hug, Adrien would do his best to win it for him.

Although how he was going to do that, he wasn't sure. The first step seemed simple enough. He had to try and get into that mind frame so he would have to try and think of new pranks to pull between his pranks. The only thing he currently had to inspire him was a room full of plastic mice.

Nino had trouble with Marinette's prank. He had to make sure she came home through her balcony, so she would land on her bed. To do this, Carapace went front window to window to make sure they were all locked except her hatch. Then he taped an electric sensor in the hatch frame. When she passed through the door it would mask the sensor, and set off an alert to the speaker he had hidden under her bed.  
Then, ten seconds after she passed through the door, it would set off an alarm like a foghorn sound that would fill the room and make her jump.  
Only the sensor in the hatch kept falling, and blaring the alarm that was on a low volume, and making Nino jump as he set up the rest of the speakers. He had to keep climbing back up onto the bed and fixing the sensor, and going back to finish setting up the speakers.  
When he was finally finished he turned the volume up as high as possible.

And found himself trapped in Marinette's bedroom.

"How do you think you'll get out of this?" Wayzz asked.

"Dude couldn't you have pointed this out earlier?!" Nino scoffed.

He kept glancing around the room urgently, searching for any sign of some way to escape. There was no escape. The only way out was into the house, or onto the balcony. The house would get him seen, the balcony would set the alarm off on himself. Nino groaned. He should have thought of this earlier.

"You're going to set off your own prank on yourself," Wayzz grinned.

He couldn't help feeling giddy at the idea that Nino had played himself. Maybe that'd teach him a lesson. Don't prank your partners.

"We'll have to go out a different window then," Nino declared.

"You locked all the windows," Wayzz pointed out.

"Then we have to go through the front door."

"Past Mr and Mrs-"

"STOP PICKING HOLES IN MY PLANS!"

Nino panicked a little. He didn't have time to deactivate everything and sneak back out! He wasn't Wayzz, he couldn't go through glass and –

Wait...

Nino smirked. How could he have been so stupid? He had a partner on this. A powerful partner too. They day they had met Wayzz passed through the glass bowl that Nino trapped him under and sat on top of it, waiting, calmly, for him to stop screaming. Wayzz wasn't trapped. Only Nino was. Nino grinned. Wayzz shied back anxiously.

"What?"

"Waz, I'm gonna turn it off and climb out. Once I'll out, you turn it back on, and come through the window," Nino declared.

"But you locked the windows," Wayzz pointed out.

"And you can go through glass," Nino grinned.

Damn. Wayzz had forgotten about that. He sighed. Maybe the only thing Nino was learning was how to use his powers for evil... No. Not Nino. Nino cried at an advert for beer where horses came to protect a puppy. He wasn't evil. He was a kid.

"Turn it down then," Wayzz sighed.

Nino turned the speakers onto mute and climbed out of the hatch. The sensor beeped as he passed, but he didn't set anything off. Wayzz waited until he was out on the balcony safely to turn the volume back up. Less than Nino had set it, so it was less likely to be deafening. Then he slipped through the glass pane of the window, and flew over to Nino. Nino beamed at him with delight.

"That was awesome! I was worried I got it wrong and you couldn't go through glass but you can dude, and that's awesome! You're the best Waz!" Nino beamed.

Wayzz couldn't help smiling back. There was no evil in Nino. Even when Hawk Moth tried to make him evil he spent his whole time trying to throw Adrien the best first birthday party ever. Maybe he got carried away, but Wayzz immediately forgave all of that.  
No this wasn't a lesson for Nino.  
It was a lesson for Wayzz.  
That they were partners down to the end, and they were on the same team, even if wasn't what he expected to be doing.

Wayzz had been with Master Fu for over a century. He was still trying to let go and accept that Nino was his master now. that meant things were changing. It was just difficult to keep up. that was Wayzz's fault, not Nino's, and it was his problem to fix. Nino was a good kid. Wayzz would be happy with him. but he would always miss Master Fu.

Marinette landed on her bed, surprised and confused by the beeping as she jumped through the hatch. Then, suddenly, a foghorn blared repeatedly and loudly all around her. Marinette's hands flew to her ears urgently.

"GET THAT THING OFF TIKKI! BEFORE MUM AND DAD HEAR!" Marinette cried.

"I think it's too late for that!" Tikki replied.

"What?!" Marinette cried.

They couldn't hear each other. Marinette dove off of her bed, and searched urgently for the dial to turn this horrid noise off.

"Here!" Tikki cried when she found it.

It was shaped like a turtle shell. Marinette leapt at it and yanked it down until it was muted. Her ears were still ringing when her father appeared, bleary eyed, at her door.

"Mari, what are you doing?" He asked, tiredly, "you should be in bed by now. Not making an awful racket."

Marinette only caught every other word but she knew the jist of what he was trying to say. She gave him a weary smile.

"Sorry papa, I didn't realise how late it was," she lied.

Tom yawned and nodded to accept this. Still he warned, "It may not be a school night but if you can't control your sleeping habits we'll have to give you a bedtime again."

"I promise I'll go to bed now papa," Marinette insisted.

"Straight to sleep too. I have to be up early to bake," Tom warned.

"I know papa. I'm sorry. Goodnight," Marinette said.

Tom nodded, "goodnight sweetheart."

Tom dipped down out of the room, and closed the hatch behind him. Tikki peered back out from behind Marinette's poster. She hovered over the hatch and yawned, exhausted.

"He's right, it's time for sleep," Tikki declared.

Marinette yawned. The foghorn that had woken her up again was soon forgotten because of the yawning. Marinette opened her wardrobe, and cried in alarm. All of her clothes had been taken away, and the only things left were –

"Chat Noir merchandise? Who left that there?" Tikki asked.

"it had to be Adrien!" Marinette huffed.

"No girl, I think it was someone else," Tikki said, uncertainly.

Marinette reached down and searched through the clothes hanging in the wardrobe where her own had been hours earlier. She dug through them, to find something she could wear. Her stomach fell when she finally found two sets of pyjamas. One was a full black onesie with cat ears, a long tail, and a lime green sip that had a golden bell on the end. The other was a black tank top with "Puns Paw Days" in green glittery writing, and lime green baggy trousers covered in black paw prints. Marinette held them up to her chest, and looked desperately at Tikki.

"He cannot know about this," she said.

Tikki's hands were over her mouth, trying to pin in the giggles, but her snorts were escaping from the corners of her mouth. Marinette stamped her foot and whined.

"come on Tikki! It had to be him, and if it wasn't, he CAN'T KNOW!"

Tikki tried to control her giggles, but they kept escaping. She bit her lip and hid her hands behind her back. If she had fingers and toes, she would cross all of them.

"I won't tell anyone."

Marinette sighed. she got changed into her new Chat Noir pyjamas, and hoped beyond all hope, that her clothes would magically reappear before morning. Tikki curled up on her special handmade pillow that Marinette had made especially for her, beside Marinette's head. She stretched out on her belly, across the pillow, and yawned.

"Goodnight girl."

Marinette laid down and pulled her covers over her. she chuckled at Tikki. Tikki's eyes were already shut, and she was almost asleep already. Marinette smiled affectionately and whispered back.

"Goodnight Teak."


	6. Chapter 6

Trixx stretched herself out across the bed and sat up, yawning. Alya slept, as she always did, curling around Trixx, protectively. Her mouth was open, there was drool on the pillow, her hair was knotty, and her glasses were on the table beside the bed, with her phone. Trixx giggled. Alya didn't look particularly dignified here, but she looked so human. So soft and pink, and vincible. Trixx frowned. She loved Alya – she hadn't known her long, but she felt like this was the perfect match for her. but she was human. They didn't last. Trixx had been burned before by rash decisions and a lack of forward thinking. Alya ran headlong into danger before she was ever given a super suit to protect her.  
Trixx couldn't handle losing this one too.  
a sudden snort made Trixx jump. Alya groaned and rolled over as she realised that she was waking up. no one wanted to do that. Trixx flashed her a smile, as if nothing was wrong.

"Good morning girl!" Trixx grinned.

"is it?" Alya asked, disgusted.

Alya had one plan today. Get Marinette. Nino could wait until tomorrow, Marinette had to be gotten today. Begrudgingly, she rolled out of bed and reached for her glasses. Then she put her foot in her slipper. Something small and hard hit against her toes. She frowned.

"Whats this?"

She picked up the slipper, and pulled out the mouse. It was one of the red ones. Alya smirked.

"Oh no did we miss one?!" Trixx gasped.

"No, Adrien put this there. Cats like to hide gross things in your slippers," Alya smirked.

She had said that to Chat Noir a long time ago, when they had just met, and were arguing. That's when Trixx had decided that Alya was just as head strong as she was, and needed to ease up a little. Heros dont get anywhere by being stubborn.

"Which means Adrien has been here," Trixx said slowly.

Alya nodded slowly, her face falling as the realisation dawned on her too. "Be prepared for another prank."

They shared a look between them, nervously, and prepared themselves for an attack in whatever form it ended up being in. Alya pulled her dressing gown over her, and gingerly stepped into the hallway. It was deserted. Trixx kept close to the ground, keeping an eye out for trip wires and the like. Alya kept an eager, if bleary, eye out for traps or scanners that may have been given to Adrien by Nino, or money. Adrien had wasted plenty of money on Nino's prank after all.

"What'd you think he did?" Trixx asked quietly.

"Who knows how that cat's mind works?" Alya shrugged.

They edged through the hallway down to the bathroom, slowly, and slightly paranoid. They would have looked more in place wandering through the depths of a haunted forest than here in a hallway of their own house. But they made it into the bathroom without incident, and locked the door behind them.

"Its gotta to be downstairs right?" Alya asked nervously.

"Sure. It's not like we saw anything up here that could be a prank," Trixx said.

Trixx sounded just as uneasy as Alya. She was keenly aware that if this prank ended better than theirs against Adrien, then she would have to pay Plagg everything she promised and honestly she didn't want to do that.

"I'll check the house while youre in the shower and find the prank," Trixx declared.

"Be careful girl. I don't want you to get hurt," Alya said.

"I won't get hurt," Trixx promised.

Trixx also noted that Alya said "hurt" rather than "seen" as Marinette and Adrien tended to warn Tikki and Plagg about. She guessed that Alya didnt care if someone figured out she was Rena Rouge, but she did care if she couldn't be Rena anymore. For some reason that gave Trixx a stirr of affection.

"Be careful," alya warned.

Trixx nodded. She slipped through the door without opening it, and started dashing around the house. She weaved in and out of shut doors, just to check there was no pranks hidden in there, and dashed downstairs to check the kitchen and whatever. Trixx hovered in the living room and tapped her chin in thoughtful irritation.

"I will not be out foxed by a cat!" She huffed, "where would he put it?"

Meanwhile Alya stripped, ready for the shower, and smoothed her towel so it was easy to just grab it when she needed it. With Trixx searching the house to defend her, Alya felt content that she was safe. Whatever Adrien had planned wasn't going to get to her, and she would be better. Much better.  
Alya yawned. The tiredness of the morning was catching up with her as she calmed because of the new sense of safety. Calmly, Alya pulled back the shower curtain, and Chat Noir flashed her a cocky sneer.  
Alya yelled in alarm, and dropped to the floor to cover herself immediately. She threw one arm out, desperately trying to grab her towel while covering herself with her other arm. Doing this knocked her glasses off of her face and dropped to the floor. Alya's heart pounded in horror as she scrambled to snatch her towel and covered herself in the towel urgently. She straightened up, staying behind the towel, and glared at him. Her vision was blurred now her glasses were on the side.

"ADRIEN WHAT THE FU-"

Trixx flew through the door ready to fight to defend Alya, and the sight before her made her rapid heart beat seem ridiculous now.

"ALYA HE'S CARDBOARD!" Trixx shouted.

Alya had a delayed reaction to that, but grabbed her glasses to put them on and see clearer. Sure enough it was a cardboard cut out placed in the shower, with a cocky grin and folded arms. His eyes were fully green, one of his ears was dog ended, and his tail was soggy from the bottom of the shower. Alya's pounding heart eased slightly, and anger set in to replace it. She turned bright red with shame and annoyance.

"Remind me to burn that thing," Alya grumbled.

Trixx snarled at it. Damn that Chat Noir! It was so simple, and still it beat them! Unfair! Trixx folded her arms and sulked midair. Alya understood the injustice Trixx was feeling. Her anger eased, to be replaced with a rush of affection for the kwami. She was adorable when she was grumpy. Alya reached up and scratched her behind her ear.

"Don't worry, we lost this battle, but we've still got Marientte and Nino to go!" Alya grinned.

"Are you sure Marinette would fall for it?" Trixx asked uncertainly.

"Of course. She has eggs for breakfast every Sunday, she told me as much," Alya grinned.

Trixx grinned back. She perked up at the idea of their prank beating Marinette's. At least she would get Tikki's cookies to show for their hard work! This wasn't the hardest plan that they had, but it was one of the best. If it worked.

Marinette yawned and dragged her feet down the stairs into the kitchen. Tikki sat on her shoulder as she went. Sundays were safe days. Her parents were busy in the bakery kitchen until ten, when they would ask her to come and help them in the bakery. Marinette had an hour to eat and get dressed.

"Eggs again?" Tikki yawned.

It was all Marinette knew how to make that wasn't for selling in the bakery.

"They're not that bad Tikki," Marinette shrugged.

She was used to how bland or boring her eggs were to eat. As long as she could eat them, she didn't care anymore. It was a Sunday morning routine that was dull and predictable, and Tikki loved it. She loved spending time with Marinette. She loved the boring everyday things that had lasted billions of years and were still performed with an attitude almost like worship. Humans had made food into an art form, and she loved watching and helping. Even with something as dull as eggs.

"How about omelette today?" Tikki grinned.

"Ooh, a cheese omelette. Sounds amazing!" Marinette's stomach grumbled eagerly.

Tikki giggled. Marinette could do things with cheese that would make Plagg weep. Tikki often wondered if he knew. She knew Plagg had a steady supply of cheese, but did he know what could be made from that cheese? She shook her head. He probably didn't. He probably didn't care either. He didn't care about many things, but she loved him anyway. Tikki flipped into the pan drawer to find the frying pan for Marinette.

"How many eggs have we got left Tikki?" Marinette asked.

Tikki zipped into the fridge through the door, and opened it from the inside.

"Six!" she declared, happily.

Marinette grinned. Tikki was as excitable as a toddler sometimes. It was cute. She carried the eggs over her head and placed them on the edge of the side where Marinette was placing the bowl, sunflower oil and grater. Tikki grinned expectantly. Marinette was clumsy, everyone knew it, and the last few times they had made an omelette, Marinette had broken an egg before it ever got to the pan. Whenever she did, Tikki would say, "Don't worry girl, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs!" And then fall backwards, clutching her stomach and giggling till it hurt. Marinette would groan and roll her eyes, but she would smile because Tikki was adorable.

"Can you grab me some cheese Tikki?" Marinette asked.

"sure thing!"

Tikki dove back into the fridge and returned with cheese that she laid beside the grater. Marinette thanked her, and turned on the heat so the oil in the pan warmed. Marinette starting grating the cheese straight into the bowl because she was tired and hungry and didnt care enough to be specific.

"Do you think you can crack an egg properly this time?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah girl! I can do it!" Tikki beamed.

Marinette chuckled, and held out and egg for Tikki to crack into the bowl. Last time she had immediately dropped it by accident, and then she accidentally let the shell fall in too, so there was a mess on the floor and extra crunch in the cake. Tikki gave the cakes to the other kwamis, and all of them smiled through the crunch. This time, Tikki held it carefully. She knocked it gently against the edge of the bowl and broke it open with her hands. Marinette watched for the egg to slop out.  
They kept staring.  
Nothing happened.  
Marinette frowned.

"What happened?!" Tikki whined, "i did it right!"

"Let me see," Marientte said.

She took the egg from Tikki and examined it. Then she burst into laughter.

"What?" Tikki asked.

Marientte laughed too loudly to answer.

"What?!" Tikki insisted.

Marinette howled to try and gasp her breath back.

"WHAT?!"

Crying with laughter, Marinette held up the egg. The inside was completely boiled. Hard boiled too. Tikki's jaw fell open. How could you make an omelette with boiled eggs?

"Pass me another one, that would have worked if it wasn't boiled!" Tikki insisted.

Marinette grinned as she held out another egg to Tikki. She guessed instantly that all of the eggs had been boiled, unless whoever had done this somehow miraculously knew which egg she'd pick first. Tikki tapped the shell against the bowl edge again, and opened it. Marinette howled with laughter as Tikki's face lit up with shock. Again the egg was hard boiled.

"I think - i think -" Marinette gasped through the laughter, "I think they're all boiled!"

"I'm glad you can see the funny side!" Tikki huffed, "i could have cracked those eggs perfectly!"

Marinette tried to stiffle her laughter back under control, but it took a lot of effort.

"I - I'm sorry - i just - it's -" the laughter drowned out her voice.

Tikki rolled her eyes and smiled. She grinned. Marinette was as excitable as a toddler sometimes, and clumsy as one too. It was cute.

"I guess we're having boiled eggs for breakfast instead then," Marinette grinned.

Well it was better than nothing. Not by much, but it was better. Once they had warned the eggs and dumped them onto a plate, they ate. Marinette checked the bottom of the egg box. Sure enough there was a fox tail drawn on the bottom. She smirked. Alya. Of course. That girl really as a pranking God.


	7. Chapter 7

Adrien threw himself across his desk helplessly, groaning as dramatically as possibly. His brain ached as much as it did when he was trying to create the poem. (He still hadn't figured out how to get the courage to ask her if that reply poem was from her or not.)

"I have no idea how to get her back. Both of her pranks against me - would you count the one with the chair as against me?" Adrien grumbled into the desk.

"You were the one that got hit, it was against you," Plagg shrugged.

Adrien raised his head, and leaned back in his chair again, swinging one arm over the back of the chair and leaning into it.

"Yeah, sure, but, like, no, because, um, she wasn't trying to get me, was she, she was getting Nino instead, right?"

Plagg raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you really think that or are you just hoping?"

Adrien frowned. "Why would I hope that?"

"Because you've been in love with Ladybug since you met her and when you found out she was Marinette you spent two weeks analysing every conversation -" Plagg paused to consider if you could count Marinette's spluttering as conversation, but he decided that it was close enough, and continued, "you've ever had to try and figure out if she was in love with you or just star struck by you."

Adrien blushed at the reminder. It felt like such an ego stroke to have that idea that Marinette was so star struck by him that she forgot how to talk when he was around. He didn't really have a tangible excuse for how she acted around him though. Every time he thought of Lila as Volpina, he thought of that moment Ladybug was willing to give up her miraculous for Adrien. If she had taken them out, that high up the Eiffel tower, transforming back into Marinette would have sent her plummeting all the way down and she would not survive. She was willing to give up Ladybug, and Tikki, and her LIFE for Adrien. That meant something. Something beyond her duty as a hero, beyond their friendship, beyond - beyond a little crush on a famous model.

"What if she does love me? What if she loves me and we could finally be together and I mess it up by doing a dumb prank on her?!" Adrien sighed.

"Then she'll stop loving you, things will be weird between Ladybug and Chat Noir and Hawk Moth will use it to his advantage to take over Paris," Plagg shrugged, casually.

"Plagg!" Adrien cried.

Unfazed, Plagg continued, "Although in my experience if someone really loves you they don't stop loving you just because you make a mistake. Especially if you make it up to them. But avoiding them, it makes things worse. Especially if it was an avoidable situation in the first place."

Adrien gave him a puzzled look. "What experience?"

Plagg paused with the cheese halfway to his mouth. He hadn't meant to be picked up or questioned in anyway. Fortunately, Plagg had an airtight way of escaping these situations.

"Oh sure, now you start listening to me. You never have before!"

"What?! I always listen to you!" Adrien cried, indignantly.

"You didn't listen twenty minutes ago when I reminded you about nice pranks!" Plagg pointed out.

"Yes, but like what?"

Adrien sighed heavily and frustrated. That was what he had trying to figure out for the last hour at least.

"Release a kitten in her room with "cataclysm" written on it. You're the punny one, you make a joke," Plagg shrugged.

Adrien groaned and dropped his head back on the desk. Into the hard wood, his voice was muffled.

"I am a joke. Thinking someone like her could like someone like me. Its laughable!"

Plagg groaned. "You gotta stop thinking like that kid! You're a catch!"

Adrien snorted. "A catch?"

"Sure, you're rich and blonde and handsome. I happen to know that Ladybugs like blondes that make bad puns. Just don't tell Tikki I said that," Plagg warned.

Adrien turned his head uncertainly to look up at Plagg. Plagg didn't look at him. He chewed his cheese pointedly, so he wouldn't have to talk. That way he couldn't dig himself further into a hole.

"Nice pranks..." Adrien said slowly.

He dragged himself up into sitting position like a limp marionette, and eyed his computer thoughtfully.

"Why didn't I think of this before? Google was made for this!" Adrien grinned.

Plagg smirked as he watched Adrien's eyes light up mischievously as he dragged the mouse over to search for pranks. He was delighted with the loophole he had found in their game. Plagg was proud of him. Exploiting those loopholes was what Chat Noir was supposed to do. Adrien was just dragging that into his everyday life. Plagg was very proud.

Alya wandered down the road, silently plotting her prank against Nino. It was going to involve his DJ equipment. She didn't know how, or what she was actually doing yet, but she was certain no one else would go for the DJ, so that was her sweet spot. She was supposed to be on patrol as Rena Rouge, but she had been delayed because she had to babysit her younger siblings, and now she was trying to keep an eye out for somewhere to hide.

"You could take all of his records and replace them with blank ones," Trixx suggested.

Alya wrinkled her nose. "Yeah..."

"Or you could put googly eyes on everything he owns so everyone is judging him."

"Maybe..."

"Or you could-"

"I could do what Trixx?"

There was a long pause that made Alya frown. Trixx was chatty, the only time she ever stopped making dumb or sarcastic comments was when she was transformed. Alya glanced up at her.

"Trixx?"

Trixx was staring down a dark alleyway, with a rotten scowl. She looked a little like a snarling dog. Her tail bushed and her hackles raised. Alya's face fell. She tensed, and peered into the alleyway. After a moment or two, she noticed a pair of green glowing eyes watching her from underneath a rock. Glowing eyes? That had to be a prank.

"Who's there?" She called.

There was no reply, which Alya expected. Murders never reply when the victim asks where they are. Another set of glowing eyes appeared across from the others. This time they were pink. Or maybe... red? Alya gasped.

She knew this was a prank.

It had to be.

But if it wasn't...

"What has glowing eyes Trixx?" Alya asked, nervously.

Trixx dove into Alya's jacket. She didn't know anything that would have glowing eyes, unless it was created by an akuma. If this was by an akuma, they couldn't risk Hawk Moth seeing them together. If he knew Alya was Rena Rouge, he'd have someone follow her and she would definitely lead him to the others. Then he could steal the earrings and ring without Ladybug or Chat Noir expecting it. Trixx had to stay out of sight.

"What had eyes that glow like that?" Alya repeated.

"I don't know, but you've got to find out," Trixx whispered.

Alya caught her breath anxiously. This had to be a prank. And then another set of eyes. Burning orange. All of them glowed evilly at her. And they moved...

Alya glanced around urgently. "I have to find a way to change, but where?!"

There was nothing around to use as shelter. She was exposed. Like a nerve.

"I don't have time to change. I'll have to face this alone," Alya muttered.

"Good luck," Trixx whispered, "I'm here if you need me."

Alya felt deep in her chest that she would definitely need Trixx. One of her against- oh now there were SIX! Six creatures glowering at her in the shadows. Right now she had no protection. No indestructible suit. No powers of any kind. If she was going to end up fighting these things, she was going to have to find somewhere to hide.

Alya swallowed back the icy nerve in her chest. She was never afraid unless she was alone. Now here she was, no suit, no back up, and she was terrified. But a little voice in the back of her head calmed her. Or tried to at least. It was her, talking to Marinette, forever ago now.

"I know you're nervous but this is important. Take a deep breath, push everything right down, and walk like Ladybug."

It had a different ring to it now. Now that she knew that Marinette was Ladybug. Even so, she straightened her back, held her head high, and took her first step across the road.

The eyes shone on, judgementally, without blinking. They moved and blinked and glared in the darkness, hidden like demons ready to pounce. Alya felt her heart vibrating with nerve - or maybe it was Trixx shivering - but she held firm and refused to look afraid.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm not afraid of you," Alya fought hard to keep the quiver out of her voice, "So come out of the shadows, and let me see you."

No reply came from the shadows. The eyes blinked, and glared at her, silently. Alya kept her stride steady, even when her head screamed to run. It was strange to her that she could run in after Ladybug and Chat Noir without a second thought, but a dark alleyway, and a dozen glowing eyes? they sent shakes and shivers through her very bones.

"I'm serious! Show yourself! What kind of akumatized villain hides in the shadows like a coward?!"

Anger tinged the edges of her voice. Alya didn't have the patience to be afraid right now. she still had to plan Nino's prank, and tomorrow was April 1st! He'd DEFINITELY win if she didn't think of something great, like, RIGHT NOW! An akuma attack was the last thing she needed.

"it's not like you're going to win," she continued, her stride growing as the irritation of silence quashed her nerves, "we've got five heroes to fight you. You're done for!"

Still no reply came from the shadows, but safely hidden away Trixx was cheering her on in whispers.

"you tell em girl! You don't need a alter ego to be awesome!"

Alya peered into the shadows. She couldn't see anything that looked remotely person shaped. What kind of akuma didn't affect a person? there had to be someone in there. She just couldn't see them right now.

"Where are you?!" she called.

There was no reply. The silence was really beginning to annoy Alya now. she stepped into the shadows, to try and find whoever this was with her hands. That's when she heard a clattering deep at the back of the alley. She gasped. A dark shape dashed away, and out of view. Alya gritted her teeth.

"HEY! YOU DON'T GET TO CREEP ON ME AND RUN! COME BACK!"

Alya set herself to start the chase, when a mechanical whirling of gears ran a chill down her spine. She leapt back into the light before it was too light. Her heart beat so fast she couldn't feel it. her legs were weak, and her mind screamed to run. The grinding of gears grew louder as the blinking eyes converged. They pooled together, like an army, and set their evil glowing glare on Alya. She stepped back, urgently, with a gasp. She didn't want to show any fear but that was impossible.

Her choices were stand and fight as Alya, which ran the risk of fatal injury as well as exposing Trixx, or run. But of this was a prank and she ran, she would never hear the end of it...

"Alright... hold tight Trixx."

"What are you going to do?"

"Something insane!"

"Alya no!"

Alya bowed her head like a bull and charged head long into the shadows, ready to fight whatever creature she found herself running into. It was an act of insane bravery that could have ended horribly…

But she didn't expect to trip and end up in a heap on the ground, surrounded by glowing eyes and cold machinery. Alya frowned. None of these robots were trying to attack her in any way.

"Isn't there a torch on your phone?" Trixx whispered.

"You couldn't have thought of that five minutes ago?!" Alya tutted.

"Well I've got it now don't I?!"

Alya groaned and rolled her eyes. She pulled her phone from her pocket, and flicked on the torch. All of the glowing lights dimmed. She found herself surrounded by tiny metal boxes with coloured light bulbs behind the cut-out shapes of eyes, like carved pumpkin lanterns. She picked one up. Underneath were little wheels. They were remote controlled. Alya groaned louder.

"I knew it was a prank."

"But who did it?"

Trixx peered out of her pocket as Alya turned the robot over and over in her hand. There were no clues as to who had set this up. No logo or note or message gave a sign as to who was to blame.

"It had to be Nino, right? Everyone else has got you already," Trixx said.

"Yeah. It had to be Nino..."

Trixx looked up at Alya's uncertain frown. She glanced around again, to try and see where that hidden figure had run off to.

"What?"

"Nino wouldn't hide. He'd come out here and brag that he got me..."

"Who else could it be?"

"Mari maybe?"

"But she's already done her prank."

"Yeah... we'll figure it out tomorrow. Tonight we have to finish patrol."

Trixx knew she was right, but she didn't want to leave. She wanted to figure out who did this, and how to get revenge. It HAD to be Nino. It had to be.

And they had to get him back.


	8. Chapter 8

"Don't worry, you look great!" Tikki beamed.

Marinette shoved her hands deeper into her hoodie, and gave an uncertain hum.

"It doesn't matter how I look, it's what I'm wearing," she muttered.

She was fully aware of how they were going to react when they saw her dressed like this. She'd toned down the skirt, and the shirt was pretty plain anyway, and the underwear, well she was grateful they couldn't see the underwear let's put it that way. But the hoodie? There was nothing she could do to hide this.  
She heard her friends before she saw them. Even from this distance she recognised Alya's this-is-so-going-on-my-blog laugh when she heard it.

"Oh my God!" Alya beamed.

"What? Oh!" Nino grinned.

Adrien was the last to turn as she reached the bottom of the steps where they were lingering. Alya bit her lip, watching Adrien eagerly. Nino was beaming at Marinette.  
Marinette blushed deeply behind the green lined hood of her Chat Noir hoodie. There was a golden bell embroidered on the collar, and paw-shapes for the pockets, and cat ears on the hood. Adrien straightened up intently when he saw her. A smile broke across his face. She looked adorable.

"Wow! You look-"

Marinette thought about what Alya had said to her, all that time ago, back before she knew she was Ladybug. _Take a deep breath, push everything right down, and walk like Ladybug._ Well she _was_ Ladybug. Marinette took a deep breath, raised her head, and spoke to Adrien the same way Ladybug spoke to Chat Noir.

"Keep your jokes to yourself," she said, sharply.

Adrien perked up in surprise. "What?"

"This isn't the time for puns. I'm warm and this is soft, and there's a pocket for Tikki. It might be your merchandise, but I love it, and I'm keeping it!"

The surprise on his face changed as he watched her bright blue eyes gave him that irresistibly stubborn look Ladybug gave him so often. His shining grin brightened.

"You look amazing."

But he wasn't just Chat Noir her sweet and annoying partner anymore, he was her crush. He was the boy she dreamed of marrying. When he gave her that smile, her chest fluttered. Marinette blushed pink and looked at her shoes.

"Thanks," she muttered sheepishly.

Alya and Tikki both rolled their eyes and smiled at how easily Adrien reduced Marinette to a love-struck mess. Chole suddenly appeared, leaning her arm on Adrien's shoulder, and grinning down at Marinette.

"Wow Marinette, you look the cat's pyjamas," she smirked.

Marinette gave her an unimpressed look. "Very funny chole."

"Thanks, it just came to me!" Chole beamed.

There was a twinkle in her eye that anyone outside this group couldn't recognise. Chole was a different person around them. Around everyone lately, but it started with them. When the bell went, Nino nudged Adrien, pointedly. Adrien nodded subtly. Nino grinned.

"Time for class. Let's hope the screws are all in my chair this time!" Nino grinned.

Alya scoffed. "Like I'd pull the same trick twice."

"Well you aren't very original," chole pointed out.

"More original than you, yo-yo 2.0!" Trixx countered.

Alya high fived her. The three of them and their kwamis bickered as they wandered inside. Marinette moved to follow and Adrien reached to stop her.

"Mari wait," he said.

She stopped and turned back curiously, "What's up?"

Her flashed that cocky Chat Noir smirk, "Hey, you know you love me?"

She turned pinker than a flamingo immediately. "What?! I - you - love - no - I don't - I mean - what?!"

Adrien smiled affectionately. He had grown fond of her getting flustered like that. He dared to dream it could be a clue that she liked him. Like, like-liked him.

"Nino needs our help to get Alya," he explained.

Marinette frowned. "How?"

"He wants us to make up an excuse for her to have to hold both our miraculous at the same time, and -"

"Give her ultimate power? Power corrupts, what if she goes over the top?"

Adrien wasn't sure if he admired her cautiousness to defend Paris, or if he was concerned by the lack of faith she had in her best friend. But she was right. Power corrupts. Maybe the "ultimate power" would echo across the city, and alert Hawk Moth to their presence.

"I guess we could find a way to confuse her so she ends up holding fakes, but thinks they're real?" Adrien said, uncertainly.

Marinette's chest warmed to watch his focused frown try to figure out a plan. He wrinkled his nose when he did. He was adorable. Marinette reached out and touched his hand so he turned his full attention back to her.

"We'll talk to Nino about it. Three heads are better than one," she said.

Adrien grinned. Marinette grinned back. When they worked together they were undefeatable.

"I'm really sorry Max, I don't know what happened to them!"

"you said you'd look after them, you know how much effort I put into them Nino, I would like them back!"

Nino looked visibly distressed as Max looked visibly annoyed. Adrien and Marinette shared an odd look. Max was usually easy going, and he only ever got annoyed when it was important to him. Nino hated upsetting people, and upsetting Max was worse because upsetting him was like upsetting Rose. Both of them were really nice, and they would never upset you and yet you upset them. That felt like a betrayal because they _never_ deserve that. to see them locked in an argument meant clearly both of them were upset, and that worried Marinette and Adrien.

"What's going on?" Adrien asked Alya.

"He borrowed a bunch of robots from max, and lost them, but they were hand made by Max and now he's annoyed that he's lost them," Alya explained.

There was a kind of knowing flicker in her eyes as she glared over at him. she didn't mention anything of the earlier prank, but Adrien guessed something like that must have happened. It must have because she was acting strangely around Nino. But he still had a prank coming up. Adrien felt a tug of sympathy for Alya. Not enough to stop his role in Nino's prank though. Alya probably had something equally wicked for him, if not more so.

" _Did_ you take the screws out of my chair again?" Adrien asked Alya suspiciously.

"I told you, no!" Alya tutted.

Adrien wasn't entirely convinced. He pressed the chair suspiciously before he sat down. Alya took her seat behind him, and Nino sat down, frowning hard. Adrien leaned against him.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll help you find them later," Adrien promised, "right now, we get to prank Alya. That'll cheer you up."

Nino raised his head, and forced a smile at Adrien. "yeah… yeah it will."

He turned his head, and nodded subtly at Chole. Chole nodded back. That was their cue to start an argument, so no one got suspicious about how calm they were all suddenly being.

Chole cleared her throat, and said, loudly, to Sabrina, "Guess _what_!"

Sabrina sat up, excitedly, "what chole?!"

"Daddy is letting me go to Hawaii for half term. Where are you going on holiday this year Marinette? Let me guess, Disneyland?!"

Marinette sat up in surprise. She had missed the nod, and now she was being attacked by Chole, and to be honest she hadn't really been listening. That's probably why her response was so weak.

"Shut up Chole."

Chole's face changed. She was so unimpressed by her response that she just looked so damn disappointed. But Chole had a trick or two up her sleeve. She stood up and wandered over to Marinette's table. It was going to be a low blow, but it had to be real, to trick Alya into thinking the fight was real.

"Your pathetic prank game is so low and so pitiful that you're going to be beaten by Adrien. But that's hardly surprising. Ladybug was always so pathetic Chat Noir could beat her in a fight. It's disappointing, but not surprising. Like everything you do."

Marinette stared at her with such shock that Chole bit the inside of her lip. She was afraid she'd crossed a line there, but she couldn't apologise right in front of Alya. Chole straightened up.

"There's only one queen around here and you're looking at her," she declared.

Chole left the room, and lingered outside, waiting for Marinette to catch up. as soon as she was out of the room, Alya opened her mouth to try and console Marinette. She didn't have time to because Marinette leapt to her feet.

"Hold my earrings, I'm going to fight Chole!" Marinette huffed.

"Wait – err, Mari-"

Marinette pressed her earrings into Alya's palm, and followed Chole out of the room as fast as she could. Chole pressed a finger to her lip when Marinette appeared, took her hand, and started running so Alya wouldn't find and interrupt them. back in the classroom, Alya looked up at the door urgently. There was a pause as she took a moment to let what just happened sink in. then she leapt to her feet. Adrien rolled his ring across the floor quickly as she hurried to the door.

"Oh, hey, Alya, can you grab that for me?" He bit back a grin.

Alya stopped, only half paying attention. She glanced at him, at the ring, and at the door. She had to be fast. She had to catch up with the other girls because they had powers, and they were willing to fight to the death if it came to that.

"Oh, um, sure, whatever, here."

Alya grabbed the ring in one hand. She hurried over while Nino grabbed her phone from her bag. Alya dropped the earrings onto Adrien's desk. Adrien pushed a fake ring from a Chat Noir costume into Alya's jacket pocket as she turned to hurry out of the room. He grinned, and looked down at the ring on his desk. Or, more accurately, the earrings on his desk. Adrien's face fell.

"Oh - Alya - wait!"

Alya was gone, but Nino had the phone so he didn't mind. He was too busy slipping a cracked screen cover onto her phone. Adrien gulped. Now Marinette didn't have Tikki and, more importantly, to him anyway, he didn't have Plagg.

Alya found Marinette and Chole in the girl's bathroom. Chole had her arms wrapped around Marinette's neck, and Marinette's face was pressed against her shoulder. Marinette hadn't yet managed to say a word, because Chole had started talking as soon as the door had shut, and had apologised three times for going over board, because she was trying to make it look real, and she was sorry if she offended her because she was important to her now, and she didn't want to hurt her, and she was so, so, sorry. Then she had leapt forward and thrown her arms around Marinette pulling her into this hug. It had taken her by surprise, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. That's what made it slightly weird. If she imagined hugging chole, not that she ever had, she imagined it would feel kind of like an octopus trying to murder you. This was... not /good but not /bad. It was kind of like the way excited two-year-old squeeze you as tight as they can in all the wrong places, but so full of pure love that it was uncomfortable, but nice.

"Am I interrupting?" Alya smirked.

Marinette leapt back from Chole like she'd been given an electric shock. Alya put one hand on her hip, and kept her smirk as she watched them. Marinette was pink at the edges again. she reached into her pocket to get the fake earrings Nino had given her. Chole acted as the distraction.

"Oh, Alya I thought you were very brave to run into that alley like that," Chole smirked.

Alya turned her head to glare at her, and demanded, "what are you talking about?"

"The video on your Lady blog?" Chole smirked, "it's hilarious."

Alya's hand flew to her pocket. she gasped. she left her phone in the classroom!

"Come on, let's go find it," Marinette put her hand on Alya's back to walk her out of the room.

Alya was so distracted that it was easy for Marinette to fish her miraculous from her pocket, and slip the fake earrings in its place. Only it wasn't HER miraculous. And she was so keen to hide it from Alya she didn't let her see as she stuffed it into her own pocket. which is why she ended up with Adrien's ring in her pocket. when they got into their classroom, they were faced with a seating change. Adrien had been moved to Chole's seat, Chole was moved next to Nino, Marinette was moved back beside Nathanael, and Alya had to swap with Max.

"until this silly prank day is done and dusted I will have to keep you away from each other. Pranks disrupt a lesson. To give the class their best chance of learning something today, I have decided to separate you. Normal seats return tomorrow," Their teacher explained.

Chole moved her bag to sit beside Nino, and grinned behind her hand. Max sat behind Nino, and the hairs on the back on Nino's neck curved up. he hung his head low and shamed at the fact he had lost Max's robots. He gritted his teeth and was determined to find them at lunch. Meanwhile Alya's phone flew to her hand. She cried in distress when she saw the large jagged scar across the screen.

"Who broke my phone?!"

"why'd you need it?" Kim asked.

"I have to see the video someone put on my blog!" Alya insisted.

"Use your laptop."

"It's at home."

"Well then wait until you go home to watch it."

"No, I want to see it now!"

To Kim, this was nothing, but poor Alya was desperate. She HAD to see the video. All the public could! Her blog had thousands of followers. THOUSANDS! She complained to Marinette between classes, and Marinette shrugged.

"I'll find it on my phone for you."

Alya slung a friendly arm around her neck as she grabbed her phone from her. "You're the best Marinette."

Marinette laughed, "It's just a video!"

Nino was one step ahead of Marinette. Once he had cracked Alya's password to get into the lady blog, he had placed a scrambler on it. Now you had to click through pages of safety warnings before getting to the Web page, and even then, everything was scrambled and in the wrong place. He could fix it with two taps of the key board if only - oh no! Someone has split nail varnish on the keyboard!  
Or, more accurately, someone has spilt nail varnish on a sheet of wax paper, peeled it off when it was dry, and laid it in a splat, across the keyboard so it ran down the edges of the keys, and the empty pot rolled onto the floor.  
Alya cried in distress again when her beloved blog became scrambled in her hand. She leapt to her feet, stubbornly, and declared that she was going to have to go home. It was life and death. Which could seem over dramatic, but Alya currently – to her belief - had accidentally broadcasted her transformation into Rena, LIVE ON HER BLOG! And that could lead to a life and death situation.

Alya ran off to her laptop and Nino ran to find Max's robots, Chole was with Sabrina, and Adrien had piano lessons. Marinette was alone. She pulled her miraculous from her pocket, and Adrien's ring fell into her palm. Her face fell.

"Alya gave me Adrien's ring... Which means she gave Adrien my earrings…"

Marinette bit her lip. Her immediate instinct was to ask Tikki for advice. That obviously wouldn't work, so she had to come up with a plan B. Another Kwami. Which meant talking to the only one available. Marinette took a deep breath, and slipped the ring onto her finger. Plagg appared infront of her with a yawn.

"Well that took forever and now I'm hungry," Plagg smacked his lips and looked up. he froze when he saw Marinette. She gave him an awkward smile. He glanced around. There was no one else around. He frowned, and looked back up at her. "Where's Adrien?"

"Piano lessons," Marinette said.

"oh. Where's Tikki?" Plagg asked.

"With Adrien."

"oh."

There was a long and awkward pause as she waited for this to sink in for him. his tail flicked slowly as he tried to take it all in. to figure out what this meant they had to do next. Suddenly he cracked a smile.

"I'm so glad you're dressed like that," he said.

Marinette felt a queasy feeling in the bottom of her stomach. "why?"

"repeat after me. Claws out."

"C-Claws out?"


	9. Chapter 9

It was humiliating to be ladybug stuck being Chat Noir. Although having extra pockets was convenient, and the way it messed her hair up looked cute, and the shiny bell seemed to gleam in her eyes, so she had a constant heroic glow – alright she loved it. but she had already had to face Adrien as a Chat Noir mega-fan today, turning up as – as – well THIS! She had to hope Tikki had thought of the same thing, so they could have a I-wont-tell-if-you-don't moment.

"I hope you know what you're doing Plagg," Marinette muttered.

Somewhere deep within her head she heard a small voice laughing. Of course he didn't.

"Great. Here we go again," Marinette sighed.

Here she was yet again, dashing into an unknown situation where she had no idea what to expect, or how to get herself out of it once she was in it.

Mondays, am I right?!

Once the piano teacher had left the room, Adrien glanced behind the sheet music. Tikki was sat with her back against the piano, behind the music. She grinned at him.

"You play really well."

"Thanks Tikki... hey if I ask you a question, will you answer me honestly?"

he asked.

Tikki shrugged. "That depends on the question. I don't like to lie, but if it means protecting Marinette, I may have to."

"that's fair…" Adrien said.

Tikki smiled in agreement. That was fair. "What's the question?"

Adrien cleared his throat, nervously, "um, I wrote a poem for Ladybug on valentine's day-"

"I KNEW IT WAS FOR HER!" Tikki laughed triumphantly.

"So she did get it?! but I threw it in the bin, how did she?"

"Marinette… Marinette has no shame when it comes to getting what she was."

Well that wasn't entirely true. She had a lot of shame when it came to some of the things she had done or would be willing to do to get Adrien to love her as much as she loved him. but it seemed like she already had. Only it was Ladybug doing all the hard work.

"So… so the poem I got in reply? The one that no one signed? This one-"

He reached into his pocket. He had been carrying the poem with him since he was given it. Every time he looked at it, his chest warmed with hope. Hope that this was from Ladybug.

"Is - is it from her?"

Tikki lowered her head. For a long while, she said nothing. Then the piano teacher came back and she didn't have to say anything. She just got to hide.

Marinette landed on the roof, and slipped in through an upper window to hide from the piano teachers. She avoided being seen like this because she didn't want to risk Chat Noir's reputation in any way. In the end she found herself edging in through the classroom door to check if he was alone. He looked so calm and peaceful as he focused on the music. Her chest tightened. A burning tug in the centre begged her to go forward and kiss him. Wrap her arms around him, lean down, and plant a kiss on his cheek.  
But not dressed like this.  
She waited until he had finished playing to call out to him. Her voice was soft, but it cut through the calm silence like a knife.

"Adrien?"

"Marinette – Marinette?!"

His initial gasp of surprise turned into a gasp of shock as his leapt to his feet to look at her. His eyes bulged when he saw what she was wearing. The way her messy hair curled across her face, and wrapped around her kitty ears was a completely different style than he had seen from her before.

"Hello kitty!" He grinned.

Even as an embarrassed and vulnerable Chat, she still gave him that killer Ladybug glare that warned him she wasn't in the mood. However this was far too good an opportunity to miss.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

His eyes sparkled even as she groaned. He wandered over curiously, and brushed his hand against a blue satin ribbon that had appeared behind her bell. If he wasn't so captivated by this subtle difference, he would have noticed how her bright red and hot her face was right now. The heat from her face could be felt from a distance away.

Under his breath he muttered, "I never got a bow."

Marinette twitched as his hand ran against her chest. Her nose twitched and she stepped back. She had to. He was so close to her that it made her stomach ache and made her legs go funny so she couldn't stand upright. She gulped, her mouth ran dry.

"You look the cat's meow. No - me-wow!" Adrien purred.

He was living for this moment. He kept circling her, trying to take in all of the detail. Her tail curved elegantly from her belt around her leg, and dusted against her toes.

"Really paw-some!"

"Hilarious. How do you get this thing off?"

she demanded.

His eyes gleamed. "You want me to help you undress?"

"very funny bug-boy, help me!"

"Does this mean I can be Ladybug?"

This was torture. She was desperate to get out of this outfit and go back to being Marinette - even in her Chat Noir hoodie - just to escape that smug ego boosting grin of his.

"Tikki what do I say to become Ladybug?" Adrien beamed.

"You're not wearing the earrings so it won't work," Tikki warned.

"That's not fair, I don't have my ears pierced!" Adrien whined.

This eased the tightness in her chest. Something to tease him back with.

She mocked him, easily, "Aww I guess not everyone can be Ladybug. Chat Noir is just so replaceable."

Adrien pressed his hand to his chest in mocked offence. "You couldn't replacement me bugaboo - um, I guess I get to call you kitty now. Can I make you purr?"

He arched an eyebrow that made her have to stare down at the ground. Her voice was sharp and business like when she tried to reply.

"Only if you tell me how to get this thing off!"

"Spoil sport," Adrien smirked.

"Adrien!"

"At once my lady."

Instinctively he took her hand and bent down to kiss it. On the end of her finger the green paw print gleamed with every pad left. It shone against his eyes like the bell shone against hers.

"Haven't you tried the cataclysm? It's the best bit!" Adrien grinned.

She was desperate to use the cataclysm as it happened, but she didn't dare to. Especially now. He couldn't become Ladybug, so she'd have to wait to fix this problem to become Ladybug and fix whatever she broke. Adrien's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"I'm not telling you how to turn it off. You have to cataclysm something."

"Adrien-"

"Cataclysm it or live as Chat Noir forever. I can go and get my ears pierced and become Ladybug, I'm not afraid to."

Marinette glowered at him impatiently. Tikki tilted her head. Adrien, with his silly blonde hair and his shining green eyes and bad puns and utter love-sickness for his partner, reminded her of someone. She imagined him with those silly spots covering his face, and a pocket full of cookies just for her. Now here he was, flirting with Chat Noir with cheesy puns, trying to make her smile. Trying to make her cataclysm...  
Tikki edged back behind the music sheets nervously. Bad memories she had buried deep within her were scratching their way back to the surface. She had to hope Marinette was more responsible than that...

"FINE! Fine, I'll break something, if you go over there. I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

Adrien scoffed. He didn't think she'd hurt him, because he couldn't imagine it.  
Poor Tikki could.  
Poor Plagg could.  
Obediently, Adrien stepped back and leaned against the piano. Tikki crept out, and nudged against him. She wanted to ensure he was safe. Adrien held out a hand, and she sat in his palm, watching Marinette. Adrien told her to destroy the stall by the door. Begrudgingly she did. It turned back and crumbled apart as if someone had burned it. Five minutes later, Tikki and Plagg swapped back, Marinette became Ladybug, and quickly fixed everything with her lucky charm. Once she was Marinette again, and Adrien was Adrien, he flashed her a grin.

"I think those spots suit you better," he smiled affectionately, "But I like you with claws."

"But when the cat's away, the bug will play," Marinette countered.

Adrien laughed that same laugh he did with the umbrella. Closing his eyes and crinkling them at the edges. Marinette's chest swelled with affection. She was so hopelessly in love with him.

"So," Adrien said, taking a seat on the piano stall again, "You were here to prank me again?"

"Actually, I was just coming to get Tikki back," Marinette shrugged.

"Do you think Alya's realised she gave us the wrong ones yet?" Adrien asked.

"Let's go find her and ask. We have to get back to class anyway."

"Lead the way my lady."

He bowed to let her walk ahead of him. The room they were in was a small classroom with a chair, a desk, and a piano. Some music books were on a shelf on the wall, and a window at the end let in a steady beam of sunshine. When Adrien bowed, he swept into that light, which made his hair glow like something magical. Marinette covered her eyes with her hand in frustration. It was difficult to deal with these situations without breaking down into a gooey mess. She hurried towards the door.

BANG!

Clink.

The door, the only escape except the window, was slammed shut and locked, with the two of them inside. Marinette rattled the door handle. She felt her stomach drop, and rattled it harder.

"Um, hello? Hey, we're in here! Hey!" Marinette called through the door urgently.

No reply came. Adrien batted her aside.

"I can do this, leave it with me."

Marinette folded her arms and shared a look with Tikki. Even Plagg didn't look convinced. He rattled the handle, and tried to break it open with his shoulder. Each time he thumped it, it shook, but stayed fast. Tikki sighed. He was so head strong. Just like Marinette.

"I'll text Alya," she declared.

Adrien accepted defeat and rubbed his aching shoulder with his hand. "She'll think it's a prank. call Nino."

"No, he's convinced everything's a prank until Monday," Tikki said.

"Then neither of them will come save us," Adrien said.

"Then call Chloe!" Marinette insisted.

"She doesn't answer my calls! You do it!" Adrien said.

Marinette's voice grew in frustration. "I don't have her number! We could have used Plagg if you'd just told me how to take that outfit off!"

"I-"

Adrien stopped. He wanted to defend himself, but he couldn't. Chat Noir could brush the bolt lock with his cataclysm and turn it to dust, and they could just walk out. But Plagg needed to charge. So did Tikki, so Ladybug couldn't swing them out of the second story window because she had had to fix the damage she'd done as Chat. There was no excuse. They were trapped. For whatever reason the door had slammed shut and they were stuck here. Because of him. Because he loved how Marinette looked as Chat. Because he loved her.

Adrien sighed. "I'm sorry."

She sighed back. "Don't be. Someone will come along soon and let us out. I'll text Nino and Alya, just in case."

"I will too. If both of us send it maybe they'll realise it's true," Adrien said hopefully.

None of them believed that for a second. They settled down, sitting on the floor, and readied themselves for a long wait. After a while, Marinette eyed the piano thoughtfully.

"Can you really play?"

Adrien raised his head and gave her an amused look from underneath the piano, where he had ended up.

"why else would I be here?"

Marinette shrugged sheepishly. "I forget sometimes. Whenever you say you have piano lessons it just means we can't hang out. I forget it means you're learning piano."

"Learning? I'm almost an expert, I've been learning for eleven years!" Adrien smirked.

It wasn't a great brag, but it wasn't boasting. He had been learning since he was a toddler, and he was pretty good. Marinette gave a small chuckle.

"Wow. Is it like that bit in Oliver and Company now? Does Plagg try to wind you up while you're playing?"

Plagg huffed indignantly. "I never wind him up!"

"You told me he never feeds you and I had to stop at the bakery on my way here to pick up a baked camembert for you," Marinette countered.

"That's not winding him up, that's being prepared," Plagg stated.

Tikki sat up intently. "Can you charge using that?"

"He ate it. All. Already." Marinette said, flatly.

Plagg bowed his head as he felt Tikki's disappointment emitting from her.

Glumly, he muttered, "Sorry."

Which meant that they were still trapped. Still stuck here waiting for someone to rescue then them. Adrien sighed.

"I won't have time to prank you now."

Marinette frowned. She'd forgotten that he still hadn't pranked her.

"I'm sorry about the cat nip. I don't think we realised how well it would work," she admitted.

"Don't be, it was a good prank. It took me two hours in the shower to get it all out of my hair, but it was a good prank," he smirked.

"What was your prank against me?"

"Nothing as mean as yours."

"You just said I wasn't mean!"

"I said it was a good prank, I didn't say it wasn't mean!"

There was a pause as Marinette had to accept this. Quietly she replied, "Sorry."

"You're forgiven."

He had forgiven her that same day. He couldn't stay mad at her. Even if he wanted to. Something about her over powered him. Stupid love.

"So what was your plan?" She asked curiously.

She leaned against a chair beside her, even though she was sitting on the floor, so she could see past it and under the piano to where Adrien was sitting. Adrien grinned at her, and leaned forward so they were that miniscule closer.

"I was going to steal your pencil case, and Alya's, and cover the nib of every single pen with clear nail varnish so they wouldn't work anymore. All except one."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"

"Because I assumed you'd ask Alya for a pen, and then she'd try to give you one but shed only have one and you'd force her to use it because it's hers."

"So I'd have to ask for a pen. That is mean."

Their teachers were not nice when it came to pens. You'd get a lecture about remembering a pen for next time, and you'd have to give it back the second class ended, which meant you'd get this lecture all over again next lesson, until you found a pen.  
Marinette yawned. She stretched her legs out in front of her, revealing the Chat Noir eyes on the top of her long socks, and covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, which was hidden by the hoodie sleeve. Watching her made Adrien need to yawn. He closed his eyes and yawned into his hand, before smacking his lips sleepily.

"Tired or just bored?" she asked.

He gave a soft smile. "Both. And hungry."

"Same. Although I'm not hungry. I ate before I came here."

"I wondered what that was."

"what'd you mean?"

Adrien smirked at her. maybe he could prank her in some small way after all. "You have - you have something on your cheek."

Her hand immediately raised to her cheek, "Oh, where, here?"

There was nothing on her cheek. She looked as perfect as always. Well as she always did when she wasn't hiding her face, or on the floor.

"No, no, down a bit," he said.

Her hand dipped towards her chin. "Here?"

"No, down here."

"Here?"

"No - here."

He crawled across the ground until they were close enough to touch, and knelt beside her. she gulped. His knee knocked against hers. His hand touched her cheek gently, and he brushed his thumb along her cheek. She blushed. He felt a surge of affection for her, and that gave him a dumb surge of courage. They were trapped together after all. there was no way of escaping if this went wrong. But Adrien didn't think of things like that. He bit back a soft chuckle.

"Now it's on your lip."

"What is it?"

"This."

Adrien leaned down, closing the gap between them, and pressed his lips against hers in a tender, soft, kiss. She leapt back, banging against the wall, and gasped. Her eyes never left him, but her face turned fuchsia. She curled up on herself, as if she could get smaller to fit through a crack in the wall and escape this situation. Adrien stared down at the floor feeling himself flush just as red as she was. maybe he should have thought about escaping…

"S-sorry, I was just playing a prank..."

His voice was soft and hurt and thoughtless. Her eyes widened bolder if that was possible, and stared at him, trying from shock to anger.

"P-prank?! A prank?!" She gasped, agonized, "Adrien you can't play with emotions for a prank!"

He raised his head with a gasp as he realised what he had said. "No, I wasn't! I didn't mean to! I was just trying to-"

She was scowling now, close to tears with anger, "Trying to what? Trying to make me go red? Trying to break me down? Trying to what?!"

The hurt and confusion and fear was freezing his mind and he couldn't think fast enough to come up with a lie, so Adrien blurted out, "Trying to find out if you loved me as much as I love you!"

Marinette froze this time. Her voice was scarcely audible. "What?"

"And clearly you don't because you reacted like that, and I'm sorry I said it was a prank, it was stupid, I was trying to cover myself because I don't want things to be weird between us. Telling you I love you is going to make things weird so great job Adrien you messed up again!"

He turned away and headed to the other side of the room to bury his face in his arms, looking away from her. he didn't want her to see him cry. The tears were already forming. Hot and aching, he tried to hold them back. Tears just don't obey people. Marinette felt Tikki's stare from across the room. It bore into her head with a kind of urgency that made Marinette feel desperate to avoid. Tikki turned her glare to Plagg. Plagg just threw his hands in the air. He never knew what to say when it came to matters of the heart. Fear because of his bad luck, or concern about almost dying, Plagg could handle that. Death was easy. Love was impossible.

In the end, Marinette swallowed back her shock, and stood up. her legs were jelly, and her stomach was performing somersaults, but she had to face up to what she had done. Marinette stood beside Adrien.

Softly, her voice whispered, "Adrien-"

"You don't have to say it... please don't..." he sniffed.

Marinette knelt down. Her voice was stronger, but still soft. "Adrien, look at me."

He turned his head further towards the wall. "Please Mari, don't."

"Kitty."

Adrien tensed up. he couldn't resist the nicknames. It was like a magnet, and his heart was metal. Reluctantly, he turned his head, hoping his eyes weren't too red, or it wasn't too obvious how much she hurt him. it was. it would have been from a distance, but she wasn't at a distance. She was close to him again. inches away. He glanced down at her lips, and back at her eyes, nervously. Even though it would hurt when she pushed him away, he was desperate to kiss her again. the softness of her lips was enchanting. Addictive even. Like a class A drug. Something amazing that could kill him. oh he'd die happy though.  
Much to his shock, Marinette leaned in and granted his wish.  
Not dying, don't worry, he was fine. Well he was on a bit of a high for the rest of the day – maybe her kisses were drugs, who knows. But this kiss, the kiss she initiated, it was something else altogether.  
It was a choice.  
Her choice.  
And she was choosing him.

His breath caught, and he tensed with surprise. When she tried to pull away he lingered, pulling her back in. He his hand found her cheek again, and cupped it hesitantly, as if trying to ensure she was real. Then his other hand cupped her other cheek. He held her jaw gently but firmly, to hold her close, refusing ever to let her go again. Her hand ran up the back of his neck, and her fingers tangled in the scruff of his hair. Adrien drew the air from her lungs like he needed it to survive. Greedy. Longing. Desperate. He should have known she was real. No figment of imagination could blush that deeply that she glowed. No figment of imagination ever chuckled like that, so the sound vibrated through his jaw. No figment ever made him feel so giddy that he couldn't help grinning like a fool between kisses. Stealing extra kisses when he could, like precious drops of water somewhere in the desert.

Finally he retreated, backing only as far as to lay his forehead against hers. She could feel his slightly out of breath panting against her cheek, which made her grin. She drove him crazy when she giggled like that. It finally gave him the courage to ask the truth.

"Did you write my valentine's day poem?"

He felt her catch her breath against his cheek. She pulled away from him, embarrassed again. He opened his eyes and hers were already wide and locked on him. He felt a sick sense of dread in his stomach. Plagg had said whoever wrote that poem was his soulmate and, even though it was in jest, Adrien took that to heart. She had to have written it. She had to.

"Did you write mine?"

Adrien had no idea. He didn't know what poem she was talking about. I mean, he _had_ written her a poem, but how could he know if it was _her_ poem? He'd thrown it away!

"I threw away the poem I wrote for you... I - I didn't think it was good enough," he admitted nervously.

There it was again. That soft chuckle. She stole a kiss from him again, delicate and perfect as the last few snowflakes that settle into the blanket. She pressed her cheek against his and whispered in his ear.

"It was perfect."

By the time they were finally freed by a janitor, they had missed the end of the school day, and neither of them cared. Tikki and Plagg were delighted to get out of there. They were pleased - no, they were thrilled/ that their chosen had finally gotten the brains to tell one another how they felt, but everyone has a limit for how much gush they can tolerant. Trapped in there with them as they finally got to share their infatuation was enough. Beyond enough.

"We've got to get to the café, we said we'd meet the others there," Plagg said.

"We can show off our new relationship," Adrien grinned.

Marinette wanted nothing more than to do that. Except one thing. "Can we... can we not tell them yet? I want to tell Alya myself."

"But I want to be there when she finds out," Adrien said, disappointed.

"Somehow, I think you don't," Tikki smirked.

She knew what Alya would be like. So many probing, personal, awkward questions that would make Adrien squirm worse than any other interview he'd ever had before. Especially with Trixx there to urge her on. Adrien was disappointed, but he could see this was something Marinette felt strongly about, so he tried to understand.

"Ok. We'll go to the café, and I promise I won't say anything."

Marinette pressed herself against the side of him, squeezing against him like a cat. "I love you."

He turned into a strawberry, and became too flustered for words. He just kissed her again, so his lips could say the words that missed his voice box, but begged to be said. Marinette was pink all over again, and she beamed.  
Plagg gagged.  
They were disgusting.


	10. Chapter 10

"Where have you two been?! We've been waiting for ages!" Alya complained.

Marinette gave her a stressed out but apologetic look as Adrien held out her chair so she could sit first. He was always the gentleman. She smiled at him, and he was unable to stop himself grinning back. Trixx and Wayzz shared a suspicious look. Plagg nodded, miserable to confirm to them what hell he had been though for the last two hours or so. It was left to Plagg to do this, because Tikki was glowing with joy, like a flower-girl at a Princess wedding, dreaming of her own happy ending.

"We got trapped in a piano room," Marinette explained.

Nino raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry what?"

"I went to see him to get my earrings back, and someone locked us in," Marinette explained.

"Why did he have your earrings?" Alya asked.

"because you gave him my earrings!" Marinette raised her voice a little, but a smile creeped out anyway.

Alya's mouth turned into an O-shape. "did I? sorry. Who locked you in?"

"I have no idea, but I'm _starving_!" Adrien groaned as he grabbed a menu.

"Me too!" said a strange voice.

The very next thing any of them heard was Nino's voice under his breath. "Oh hell."

Crowding the space around their table were four six-foot people, towering over their table, dressed as the Ninja Turtles. Alya's phone (cracked covered removed) was already in her hand, filming Nino. Six-foot-tall, fully green, with four-foot shells along their backs, and fake samurai swords in their shells, and different coloured bandanas, they looked perfect. The closest one with the orange bandana – Michelangelo – was the one who had spoken.

The one in the blue bandana - Leonardo – pointed at Nino, "This must be the birthday boy."

Alya beamed so wide that they could see the fire in her eyes. "That's him, just look at the balloon!"

Nino looked up at the fox-head-shaped helium balloon hovering above their heads, between the two of them.

"I wondered what that was for," he sighed, dejectedly.

"I thought it was to let us know where you were," Adrien grinned.

"Or Chole, she isn't here yet," Marinette agreed.

"Shall we wait for your last friend then?" Donatello asked.

Nino pulled a face, "No, no, it's fine-"

Alya interrupted urgently, "No, Chole would love this! let's wait, you can show off your ninja skills!"

Adrien's eyes lit up at the idea of a show that would make Nino cringe even more. "Oh please show off your ninja skills!"

Nino groaned inwardly, "It's really ok-"

"Come on, have fun, it _is_ your birthday!" Adrien beamed.

Nino looked down, biting his lip hard. It was NOT his birthday. His birthday was over a month away. He knew his friends would never let him get away without performing, so he heaved a sigh, and nodded, disheartened. Nino cautiously shielded Wayzz as he crawled into Alya's pocket for shelter. Trixx helped him pull himself in, and gave him enough space to see his chosen preform with the six-foot turtle ninjas.  
A crowd formed around the windows, curiously, and other customers turned to look at them in fascination. Clearly the Ninja Turtles had a plan for their performance that was based on the birthday boy being a child. While they showed off their fake ninja skills, they made Nino do very basic ones, like punch low, gently, and lifted him up to pretend to do a jump kick. Carapace could do these things instinctively. It was beyond simple for him, and Nino found it very condescending. Marinette, Alya, Adrien, Tikki, Plagg, Trixx and Wayzz found it hilarious. Especially when they carried him on their shoulders back to his seat, and Michelangelo started a round of applause that lead into the entire café singing Happy Birthday to Nino, while Raphael tied a turtle green mask around Nino's eyes, and declared he was "one of the turtles now". They didn't understand quite why the table were laughing that hard, but all of them found that utterly side-splittingly, _hilarious._ Nino turned a deeper shade of pink than any of them had seen him go before.  
Chole held the door of the café open for four men dressed as turtles, who were literally moon-walking out, as they waved goodbye to the cheering café. She wandered in, and over to the table where her friends were sitting. Nino seemed to have died. He was lying face down on the table, doing his very best not to scream. Wayzz was on the table, patting his head, and squeaking as he tried not to howl with laughter. Tears edged the corners of his eyes as the pressure built up inside his tiny body.

"Chole!" the other all cheered when they saw her.

Chole set her smaller bag on the table top. It was the same size as the bag Marinette kept Tikki in, but it was white, and it had an embroidered crown on the front. Marinette had designed this for her. Pollen stayed in there while they were on the move. Pollen peered out now, to see what the funny thing was.

"What did I miss?" Chole asked, taking her seat.

Alya grinned at her, raising her phone, "I'll send you the video."

Nino raised his head, horrified to see that she had been recording the entire time. He groaned loudly, and dropped his head back against the table, which made the others laugh. even Wayzz couldn't hold it in any longer. Trixx had fallen over, howling with giggles. Even when the humans bit back their giggles, the laughter from the kwamis was loud enough to fill the café. It took a while to hush them.

"Speaking of videos," Chole smirked at Alya, "did you get to see the one on your blog in the end?"

Alya folded her arms on the table between them, "Yes, actually, once I unscrambled the code Nino put on. It was very funny if a little over the top."

Alya gave Nino an amused glare. Chole smirked. then she looked up, and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I'm going to change this awful music."

She left Pollen on the table, and she joined the other kwamis in a smaller circle in a fort that Adrien was building out of menus. He had gotten a little bored, and he was trying to mask the kwamis, so no one noticed them. namely the waitress that he had just called over, because he was still starving.

"Um, I'll take a burger, and a side of camembert, he'll take as many chips as you can get into a bowl, she'll take one of those chocolate chip cookies behind the counter, and this brownie slice thing with whipped cream, she'll have the same, and she'll have sushi, but you don't do sushi, so she'll kick up a fuss for twenty minutes before you either bring her sushi, or she agrees to have a chicken salad and diet coke, light."

"Diet coke light?" the waitress repeated.

"Diet coke will do, but when she asks, say it's light," Adrien said.

The waitress just nodded. She left the menus because Adrien was playing with them still. He was building a roof for the strange little hut he had built.

Alya leaned her chin on her hand, "Are we really that predictable?"

"I just like being in control," Adrien shrugged.

"mmm, remember that for our next outing Mari, maybe it's time to see how the cat leads," Alya winked.

Marinette scoffed, "Yeah right, trust me, he's hopeless."

"hey!" Adrien laughed, once again faking offence.

Marinette leaned in towards him, beaming as she teased him, "it's true!"

He laughed, and got a little closer to her, desperate to kiss her again, but he remembered his promise just in time, and pulled away, saying, "yeah."

Pollen glanced over at Trixx. Trixx bounced her eyebrows suggestively, grinning. Pollen's mouth fell open. That was sudden…

"So what was the video?" Adrien asked.

"Nino pranked me with some of Max's robots and posted a video on my blog. That's what gave me the idea for public humiliation. No hard feelings?" Alya nudged Nino, who had just sat up again.

Nino shrugged, and gave her a weak smile. "I've got a tough shell. But I didn't video any of the pranks. Not even that one. I've been looking for Max's robots all day I can't find them. That wasn't me."

"Yeah, sure, and you didn't lock me and him in the piano room either," Marinette smirked.

"Or make me chase a laser beam like a real cat?" Adrien asked.

Alya's attention turned to him instead, "you did what?"

"that wasn't me. I wish it was though!" Nino grinned.

"Wait, really? You didn't do the laser pointer thing?" Adrien asked, shocked.

"or take my clothes so I could only wear Chat Noir merch?" Marinette asked.

"Or film me fighting robots?" Alya asked.

"No. I didn't do any of that," Nino shook his head.

"Alya?" Marinette asked, suspiciously.

"I didn't do it either!" Alya threw her hands up in surrender.

"What, none of us did any of those pranks?" Nino asked.

"Looks that way," Adrien nodded.

"Then who did?" Marinette asked.

They stared at each other, suspiciously, confused, and silently. Which is why it was so loud, and so chilling, to hear, blasting out of the speakers around them:

 **BWAAAH-BWAAAAAH WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?!**

All eyes shot to the jukebox where Chole was standing, with a determination in her eyes that caused a shot of fear straight to each of their hearts. Chole was prepared to set everyone, even herself on fire, just to burn these four.

And it was beautiful.

 ** _"you."_**

The viciously scathing betrayal that made up Alya's tone rippled across the other three. Chole gave them a devilish smile of pure, evil, delight.

 ** _"ME!"_**

Pollen gave an impish grin, with a bright fire in her eyes, as all the other kwamis snapped over to stare at her, in utter, shocked, horror. The pure, unfiltered pride in her face was equal to the shock on theirs. Pollen had won. _And none of them had seen her do it._

"Maybe you're not that predictable then," Adrien muttered.

"I can't believe you did that!" Alya couldn't decide if she was furious that she had been beaten, or delighted that she had been beaten so _amazingly_.

Chole grinned and nodded. "I know. I'm a genius."

"I… I'm gobsmacked," Marinette had to sit with her hand over her mouth, shocked.

Nino shook his head, bewildered. "that's amazing."

"I can't believe I'm not more surprised," Adrien shrugged.

"You got everyone, why didn't you get me?" Nino asked.

"I figured the guilt you'd feel for losing Max's robots would make you search your whole house even though they weren't there. Did you?" Chole asked.

Nino turned his head and looked down. "Oh. You totally got me dude."

"Can I have my clothes back now?" Marinette asked.

Chole wrinkled her nose and glanced her up and down nervously. "I mean sure, but do you really want them back? They're kinda old and gross and this Chat Noir super fan look kinda works."

Adrien nudged Marinette playfully. "I like it."

Marinette grinned at him, as if for a moment, she was going to agree to keep her Chat Noir clothes inside of getting her normal clothes back. Then she looked back towards Chole.

"I want my clothes."

Adrien wrinkled his nose and laid his chin on his hand, on the arm of her chair. "Spoil sport."

She smiled, and pressed his nose with her finger, so he grinned, and she giggled. Alya and Chole shared a suspicious look, but Chole's eyes lit up, and her grin widened (if possible) at them.

"Wait - did that work too?!"

Adrien pulled his love-struck eyes from Marinette, over to Chole, trying to keep his cool, even though Marinette's hand was curled around his arm.

"Did what work?" he asked.

Chole beamed, "Did you two kiss?!"

" _What_?!" Marinette squeaked, instantly turning pink.

"WHAT?!" Adrien cried, uncertain of how to answer.

 _"WHAT?!"_ Nino gasped.

" **WHAT?!"** Alya demanded.

Chole leaned back in her seat and laid her leg over the other, like she was someone out of the Bond, finally revealing how she finally trapped him in her lair, and how amazing she was.

"About a month ago I told Nino that he was a pranking king, and April 1st will be dangerous with him around, and I told Alya the same thing, because you're both so competitive I knew we can would end up here. I figured if I could get Marinette in the same room with Adrien for long enough one of you would finally crack and you'd kiss. Then we wouldn't have to put up with the tension anymore."

There was a long, lingering silence, as the four of them stared at Chole like she was some kind of super villain. They whole view of her twisted into something new. Something shocking. Something altogether more interesting.

"This whole thing… the whole weekend… was a prank to get Marinette and Adrien to kiss?" Alya said, slowly.

"Yep. It took a lot of planning and effort to get you out of your comfort zones, but it worked like a charm," Chole grinned.

"did it?"

Nino and Alya turned their heads to stare at Adrien and Marinette again. Marinette had turned fuchsia again. she was staring at the table, feeling herself heat up. this was not how she imaged the reveal to go, at all. Adrien turned his head to Marinette, to follow her lead. He always followed Ladybug's lead. But right now, she wasn't Ladybug. She was Marinette. And Marinette had always needed Chat Noir – actually, she'd always needed _Adrien_ to pull her out of these dangerous situations. He put his arm around her, and pulled her close, to reassure her she wasn't alone in this.

"Did it work?" he repeated, slowly.

Adrien raised his head from Marinette, to face the others. he ready to reveal dramatically what the others had all figured out. What he didn't count on, was the hungry and impatient kwami hidden inside of the hut made out of menus. Plagg had just lost the bet, and had to watch Pollen get the miraculous hug from Wayzz that had changed the game right at the very start, after having to watch Adrien and Marinette go all lovey-dovey and ruin Tikki. To say Plagg wasn't in the mood for a dramatic reveal, was an understatement. So, when Adrien started getting dramatic, he was cut off by a loud, sharp, shout from inside the hut.

"YES!"

The table burst into laughter as Marinette hit the table like Nino had been ten minutes ago. Adrien wrapped his arm around her, supportively. Alya laughed so loudly and victoriously and declared that Chole was her new hero. Chole laughed proudly, because now she had a reason to sit with her friends and actually be friends with the others, because she had fixed up two of them when no one else could. Nino just thumped Adrien on the back and congratulated him for finally wearing Marinette down to get her to accept him. that's when Marinette raised her head, to come to Adrien's defence.

"I would have said yes to dating him two years ago, when he handed me that umbrella, it was this idiot who didn't open his eyes and see how perfect I am!"

"You tell him girl!" Alya beamed.

"what do you have to say to that Addikins?" Chole sneered.

Adrien's arm was still around Marinette, and she was leaning against him, lovingly. If he could have explained the utter perfection of the moment, like his entire world had finally come together, and paradise had been created in a corner table of a rundown café somewhere in Paris, with his friends, the love of his life, and their kwamis, he would. But he would never have found the right words. So instead, he shrugged.

"I wondered where that umbrella went."


	11. Chapter 11

It was a strange week. After the insanity of the weekend, everything seemed to spin on a dime. Marinette was suddenly dating Adrien, all four of them were suddenly friends with Chole, and during that last akuma attack, the five heroes settled everything in five minutes! It was the one week where none of them - not even Marinette - was late to class or absent for no reason. After the hectic chaos of the weekend, they seemed to be closer than ever. All of them were behaving themselves and getting along and there wasn't any fighting. Chole didn't even cause the akuma this time! She hadn't caused an akuma in a month now, and Pollen had never been so proud.  
The bar was low.  
This new way of doing things had been accepted by Saturday. No one questioned why they were suddenly so close, but they were. No one questioned the sudden improved teamwork of the Miraculous 5, they put it down to better communication. Plus five heroes against one villain, even with all his akumas, basic maths tells you who'll win.  
And if there was one thing that they had learned from the weekend, it was that working alone to prank people was fun, but it was stressful and limiting. Working as a team to prank someone gave them more options, and a much more satisfying result. Teams were always better. As proved by the Saturday patrol meet up.  
Queen Bee was the first to arrive. There was no pizza this time, which was disappointing, but expected. Maybe if they were lucky Marinette would have brought some cakes or something, but everyone knew whatever food was brought went to the kwamis first. They were more important to feed.

Speaking of which.

Chole caught Pollen carefully as she flew from her hair pin. Pollen nestled into Chole's palm and gave a yawn far bigger than a bee should be able to yawn.

"Haven't you been sleeping?" Chole asked, concerned.

The pure and unselfish affection Chole had developed for Pollen was completely different to anything she had ever felt before. She loved her kwami completely, and she couldn't bear to see her unwell.

"I've been worried about our prank," Pollen confessed.

Chole frowned. "Which one? Max has his robots, Alya took down the video, Marinette has her clothes, Adrien has a girlfriend, everything's been sorted out."

Everything had been sorted out and neatly wrapped in a bow since Tuesday, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the paranoia had eased up enough that the teacher let them return to their normal seats. It disappointed Chole a little to be so far away from them, but at least it wasn't as far as it had been.

"Any of them. Everyone got revenge on each other last week, but no one knew what we were up to... no one got revenge on us," Pollen warned.

She had heard the other kwamis giggling. She was sure whatever was going on, Trixx was planning it. It all had to be Trixx's idea. The sly old fox. It left Pollen on high alert.

"You're being silly. If they were going to get us they would have gotten us by now," chole insisted. "Besides, it's not like they could plan four separate pranks just to get revenge on me, right?"

Sure. Four is a bit of a stretch. After all, you only need one. Especially if you work in a team.

"NOW!"

The moment Trixx's yell was heard, Ladybug, Rena, Chat and Carapace leapt from their hiding spaces. This was easy enough for Rena, given her power of flight, but she had to be Alya so Trixx could give the cue. She was stuck balancing on Chat Noir's staff, and both of them crouched low under the wall to avoid being spotted. On the other side, Ladybug was literally dangling off of the roof by a string, holding onto Carapace, so the two of them were tangled together. Each of them had nerf guns at the ready. As soon as the cue was given, they leapt up onto the roof, and landed encircling Chloe. Chloe gasped and took a step back. Pollen dove into her jacket for cover.

"I told you so!" She squealed.

Chole screamed as she was pelted all over by nerf bullets being fired. She threw up her hands to defend herself. Pollen zipped to the side and grabbed a pizza box that had been left from last week. It was better than nothing, if just barely. Chole held it up in front of her until they ran out of bullets. Then she crouched down and, from behind the safety of her pizza box, started throwing them back.

"Mines better!" Carapace yelled, smugly.

The nerf balls pinged off of his shield without any affect whatsoever.

"Four against one is unfair!" Chole yelled.

"It's five against two actually!" Trixx countered.

"Trixx! You and I should team up! Us kwamis would win instantly!" Pollen called.

Chole gasped in offence. "Traitor!"

"She's right though, we could win in seconds," Trixx agreed.

Chat Noir flashed that killer smirk. "You're on!"

The daring and dashing heroes of Paris vanished. In their place stood five school kids, and five kwamis. Surrounding them, were fifty nerf bullets.

"No forming splinter groups to betray us Pollen," Plagg warned.

"No trading ambush plans for ammo Nino," Chole warned.

Both Pollen and Nino attempted to look offended at the suggestion, but they had to admit that they were fair accusations. They both had a history.  
You may be interested to know that the following Monday gave their class causes to question their friendship. Namely the very purple bruises down Chole's arms, Nino's black eye, and the cut above Alya's eyebrow. The kwamis, if you hadn't guessed, won. But it doesn't matter as long as they all had fun, which they did.  
I think we'll leave this story here. I'll leave you with the image of the brave and respected heroes of Paris, and small but mighty powerful Gods, having childish fun with foam balls in a rooftop dodge ball fight. The moon was high, the stars were shining, and Paris was safe. They deserved their fun.


End file.
